Vanessa Cárdenas & David Leopold on Larger Democratic Stakes of Trump’s Weaponizing of Immigration Law

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Washington, DC — As legal observers have been highlighting, there’s a brewing constitutional crisis over the Trump administration seemingly ignoring a federal judge’s court order to pause deportation flights. The administration’s invocation of the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 and subsequent actions are the latest reminder of how this administration is weaponizing and abusing immigration policy and law in a way that should raise alarms for all Americans.

According to Vanessa Cárdenas, Executive Director of America’s Voice: “The Trump administration’s obsessive focus on immigration and related scapegoating and scare tactics are a way to justify a more sweeping set of power grabs and crackdowns that threaten Americans’ rights and liberties and even the basic separation of powers. The Administration’s usage of ‘invasion’ and ‘public safety’ is the excuse to implement extremely dangerous tactics that go against our values and rule of law. This isn’t about Venezuelan gangs any more than the Mahmoud Khalil case was about Gaza – instead, there are much bigger stakes and implications for all of us.”

David Leopold, America’s Voice legal advisor, said: “This administration is weaponizing immigration law and policy, using them to breathe life into archaic statutes that should have no application and bearing to the current moment. Why? They become entry points and means to an end in this administration’s efforts to claim dangerous new executive powers. Independent of partisan and ideological affiliations, we all should be raising the alarm and recognizing what’s at stake is much larger than anything about immigration.”

Follow Vanessa Cárdenas and America’s Voice on BlueSky: vcardenas.bsky.social and americasvoice.bsky.social and Twitter: @VCardenasDC and @AmericasVoice

America’s Voice – Harnessing the power of American voices and American values to win common sense immigration reform www.americasvoice.org