The Washington Examiner’s Byron York suggested that the Trump administration could win over public support for its deportation of illegal immigrants if it can show proof that they belong to foreign gangs.
The Trump administration has said it is certain it is deporting members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua to El Salvador, with border czar Tom Homan insisting that “we’re not making this up” and that the administration is following the law. York, the Washington Examiner’s chief political correspondent, noted how the general public supports President Donald Trump’s bid to deport illegal immigrants. He also said many people likely question the double standard of claiming Trump’s deportations are unconstitutional while former President Joe Biden allowing “10 million people into the country illegally” is not considered unconstitutional.
“That said, the administration’s case would be much stronger if it can show that every single one of the people on that flight to El Salvador really was a violent Tren de Aragua gang member and that they can show that they went through a process to determine that,” York explained on Fox News’s Fox & Friends. “Now, the president himself has said, of course, he didn’t go through all the records. He said he’s been assured by his top aides that they were. Tom Homan said essentially the same thing yesterday, but their case would be stronger if they would make that case to the public and to the courts.”
York was asked whether showing this proof could reveal critical information that should remain confidential. He assessed that criminal cases deal with classified information “all the time,” pointing to Trump’s legal battles over the last couple of years.
York noted that one factor the Trump administration will need to address is showing proof that it did not disobey Judge James Boasberg’s order on deportation flights to El Salvador. The Trump administration could make the case that Boasberg “overstepped his authority” in ordering said flights to return to the United States.
DOJ PROSECUTIONS OF MIGRANTS AND SMUGGLERS SURGE UNDER TRUMP
Amid the Trump administration’s legal feud over its deportation flights, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem is set to take a trip to Central America, which will include a visit to the prison in El Salvador where hundreds of suspected Tren de Aragua and MS-13 gang members were sent. Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele will meet Noem at the Terrorism Confinement Center in his country.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection recently shared with the Washington Examiner that it had arrested 15 suspected Tren de Aragua and MS-13 gang members in Washington, D.C. CBP Assistant Commissioner Hilton Beckham said in a statement that the arrests send a clear message that “criminals will find no sanctuary in our nation’s capital.”
