Donald Trump issued a chilling response when asked during an interview to share his thoughts on sending so-called 'homegrown criminals' to prisons in different countries.
The Trump administration's crackdown on immigration has already resulted in non-US citizens being detained and deported - not always fairly - but now the POTUS has suggested that even people born and raised in the US could face being sent overseas.
The president made the comment during a recent interview with Fox News' Rachel Campos-Duffy, the wife of Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, for the Spanish-language program Fox Noticias.
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During the chat, Campos-Duffy asked whether Trump's approach could be used for 'our own violent criminals'.
Trump then responded: "I call them home-grown criminals... the ones that grew up and something went wrong."
The POTUS then revealed that his administration is in fact 'looking in to' the notion of sending American criminals to prisons overseas, saying: "We want to do it."
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Offering a chilling six-word insight into his own support on the matter, he added: "I would love to do that."
Trump's comments come as he also revealed on Monday (April 14) that Attorney General Pam Bondi is 'studying the law' regarding the deportation of 'homegrown criminals', adding: "If we can do that, that's good."
While speaking during a meeting with El Salvadoran president Nayib Bukele, Trump said the US 'always [has] to obey the laws', but added: "We also have homegrown criminals that push people into subways, that hit elderly ladies on the back of the head with a baseball bat when they’re not looking, that are absolute monsters. I’d like to include them.”
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In response to the idea, legal experts have claimed deporting US citizens would be 'unconstitutional'.
Emma Winger, a lawyer at the nonprofit advocacy group American Immigration Council, told NBC News that the immigration law which gives the government the authority to deport people simply does not apply to US citizens.
Anthony Kreis, a professor at Georgia State University College of Law, added: "I can’t see how exiling someone is permissible as part of the bundle of rights that are fundamental to citizenship — doubly so if the effort to house American citizens overseas means turning a person over to a foreign authority."
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David Bier, an immigration expert at the libertarian Cato Institute, simply stated: "US citizens may not be deported to imprisonment abroad. There is no authority for that in any US law."
When commenting on Trump's plans, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the POTUS was interested in deporting 'heinous, violent criminals' who are US citizens 'if there's a legal pathway to do that'.
Topics: Donald Trump, Crime, US News
Emily Brown