lindajoy wrote:
I was speaking of rights as in being here illegally to begin with...
Right to due process
What the law says: The Fifth Amendment states that "no person … shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law."
The issue of due process is at the heart of many immigration cases, including Reno v. Flores, the 1993 Supreme Court case that has returned to the spotlight with the surge in family separations. The case led to an agreement requiring the government to release children to their parents, a relative or a licensed program within 20 days.
In the ruling, Justice Antonin Scalia wrote "it is well established that the Fifth Amendment entitles aliens to due process of law in deportation proceedings."
How it works in practice: Immigrants have the right to due process. But in reality, says, Andrew Arthur, a resident fellow in law and policy at the conservative Center for Immigration Studies, "courts of law run the gamut."
In some cases, immigrants are not granted a hearing at all. When asked about the president's tweet, White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders pointed to the process of "expedited removal," which was created by the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996.
"Just because you don't see a judge doesn't mean you aren't receiving due process," Sanders said.
Under the expedited removal process, immigrants who have been in the country illegally for less than two years and are apprehended within 100 miles of the border can be deported almost immediately without going through a court hearing.
The exception is asylum seekers, who must be granted a hearing.
Those who are not processed through expedited removal have the right to due process in an immigration court, where the main goal is to decide whether a person has a legal claim to remain in the U.S.
"In immigration court, you have very few rights," said John Gihon, an immigration attorney who spent six years as a prosecutor for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement before moving into private practice.
Gihon says the bar for what constitutes evidence is lax in immigration court. Documents do not have to be authenticated, and hearsay, a statement made by someone outside of the court, as opposed to on the witness stand, counts as admissible evidence. Hearsay is not allowed in most U.S. courts.
"In the majority of cases, it's a lock solid 100 percent guaranteed conviction because there is little defense, and most would confess they crossed the border illegally," Gihon said.
The right to legal counsel
What the law says: The Sixth Amendment states that "In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall…have the assistance of counsel for his defense."
The Supreme Court ruled in the 1963 case Gideon v Wainwright that if a person is too poor to hire an attorney, the government must appoint one.
How it works in practice: Because most deportation proceedings are civil rather than criminal cases, the right to legal counsel often doesn't apply.
The Trump administration's zero-tolerance policy now requires most illegal border crossings to be tried as criminal cases, the exception being parents who cross the border illegally with children. After public outcry about separating families, the head of Customs and Border Protection said Monday the agency has stopped referring parents for prosecution. Other immigrants will still be charged with a crime.
Under the law, anyone facing a criminal charge has the right to counsel. However, the government is only required to provide counsel if the person is accused of a felony. Crossing the border illegally is a misdemeanor.
I was speaking of rights as in being here illegal... (
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Linda; All good info and factually correct.
Many words have been written by legal scholars and philosophers about the constitution containing all the ingredients necessary to make it's own undoing. For me this whole issue, illegal immigration, puts a fine point on the opportunities to distort the constitution and attendant laws to affect a desired outcome, mixing those ingredients just so …
And so, over the past 10 years or so we have witnessed the creation by the Leftist Democrats of a whole new, protected class. While we sit by and expect the law to work they make the law work, so to speak. And if that doesn't work they simply ignore it.
Pragmatically speaking, of illegal aliens that is, once they are in, they are in … Optionally, don't let them in.
I understand your argument. I'm just calling a spade a spade.