President Donald Trump has a simple message on immigration: His administration is deporting criminals. As immigrant rights advocates sound the alarm about civil rights and due process violations, they’re finding that message difficult to counter.
The White House’s “back pocket strategy is, ‘Yeah, we dare you to get into a fight about supporting criminals,’” said Beatriz Lopez, co-executive director of Immigration Hub. “It deploys a distraction when really they’re using the issue of immigration as a vehicle to undermine our democracy.”
This week’s messaging was a prime example. Trump invoked a wartime power to deport Venezuelan migrants to an El Salvador prison without deportation orders or, in most cases, criminal charges. He and his allies repeatedly said they were members of the Tren de Aragua gang, without providing evidence publicly.