California Attorney General Rob Bonta led a coalition of 19 attorneys general in opposing the Trump Administration’s legally flawed effort to dramatically expand “expedited removal” into the interior of the United States and put untold numbers of Americans at risk for unlawful detention and deportation without due process. With expedited removal, a deportation can be carried out in little more than a matter of hours or days. The individual does not see a judge or have access to other safeguards that most Americans take for granted as a matter of basic justice. In an amicus brief in Make the Road New York v. Noem, the attorneys general urge the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia to uphold a district court’s order temporarily halting this dramatic expansion of expedited removal, which stands in opposition to more than a century of precedent holding that those who have entered the U.S. are protected under the Fifth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. As the U.S. Supreme Court has long recognized, the Constitution protects all persons in the U.S. from the deprivation of life, liberty, or property without due process of law. Deportation can be among the most severe and consequential deprivations of liberty an individual can experience — it can mean loss of one’s home, family, and for some, life itself.
“The federal government is attempting to deport people who have built lives and become part of their communities without giving them a fair hearing before a judge. It’s antithetical to our democratic values — and a clear violation of these individuals’ constitutional rights. Without due process, mistakes are inevitable. And with the current administration’s preference for volume and speed over accuracy and the rule of law, these life-upending mistakes will only continue to grow,” said Attorney General Bonta. “Think for a moment on this: If the Trump Administration had its way, there would be more due process rights afforded for traffic citations than in cases that decide whether a person is legally allowed to remain in this country. This is part and parcel for President Trump’s indiscriminate mass deportation campaign. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, we are a nation of laws where everyone, including President Trump, must play by the rules. California will continue to fight to ensure that everyone in our state is afforded basic due process and can live without fear of persecution.”