by Donald Eng CTNewsJunkie
The recent US Supreme Court decision that allows the deportation of undocumented immigrants to third-party countries outside their country of origin violates the most fundamental constitutional right to due process, according to state Sen. Sujata Gadkar-Wilcox, D-Trumbull.
“The Supreme Court’s recent ruling allows the Trump administration to deport individuals to countries that are not their country of origin, including conflict zones and countries where they could face persecution — all without due process,” said Gadkar-Wilcox, a professor of constitutional law at Quinnipiac University. “Not only is this unconscionable, but it goes well beyond the pale of settled law.”
Gadkar-Wilcox said the administration already had sent individuals to a prison in El Salvador known for human rights violations without so much as a charge.
“We have seen masked officers abduct a student off the street for exercising free speech. We have seen Donald Trump defy court orders that he does not agree with,” she said. “We are witnessing an attack on our constitution unfold before our eyes.”
She cited the 1944 Korematsu v. U.S. decision that legitimized the sending of more than 120,000 Americans of Japanese origin to internment camps.
“When we reflect on that case today, history shows us that Supreme Court cases that blatantly violate basic human rights will ultimately be remembered as a stain on the constitutional order of the United States,” she said. “This administration and the Supreme Court would do well to look towards history and learn from our most shameful moments, not repeat them.”
Gadkar-Wilcox said one of the central purposes of due process is to ensure that people are not detained without a meaningful opportunity to be heard or deported to places where they would face violence and persecution. The habeas corpus right in the US Constitution, Article I, maintains that anyone who is detained has the right to be heard by a neutral arbiter.
The Fifth Amendment of the US Constitution says “no person, shall be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law.”
The Fourteenth Amendment adds that “nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property without due process of law.”
Gadkar-Wilcox called due process “the minimal constitutional requirement and a fundamental moral obligation.”