1. United States
2. N.C.
3. Letter

As your constituent, I urge you to oppose any effort to suspend or deny habeas corpus to undocumented immigrants. Habeas corpus is a legal protection nearly 800 years old, born from the Magna Carta and refined through centuries of common-law practice to become a cornerstone of Anglo‑American liberty. Enshrined in Article I of our Constitution, the writ requires the government to justify detention before a judge; its suspension has been historically limited to rebellion or invasion and even then courts have insisted on alternative procedural safeguards. To strip this ancient right from any group is to betray the legal tradition that prevents arbitrary power. I am stunned and furious that this administration is seriously considering suspending habeas corpus to accelerate deportations. That extremist ideas like using denaturalization as punishment, or blocking court access for detainees, are even entertained shows how frayed you, in Congress, have allowed our institutional safeguards to become. The road to despotism begins with the erosion of basic rights. Once we accept that the government can detain people without judicial review because they are unpopular or undocumented, the boundary that protects all of us collapses. This is not abstract alarmism. Historically, suspension of habeas corpus has been invoked only in the gravest national emergencies; using it as an administrative tool to expedite removals would pervert its purpose and normalize arbitrary detention. The administration’s invocation of the 18th‑century Alien Enemies Act to deport Venezuelans — a move the Supreme Court allowed to proceed only while INSISTING detainees be given notice and an opportunity to seek habeas corpus relief — demonstrates how this administration uses thin legal pretexts to justify sweeping actions that gut rights. It is apparent that at least some in the administration see denial of habeas corpus as the next logical step. As those opposed any such denial point out, this will only end with governmental actors "detaining, imprisoning, or even executing individuals arbitrarily." At least someone within the administration warned against denying habeas corpus. Those warnings must be heeded. I demand that you publicly reject any legislative or executive efforts to revoke habeas protections, support statutory guarantees ensuring prompt judicial review for anyone detained, and oppose any expansions of executive power that enable denaturalization or detention without meaningful process. Defending habeas corpus is defending the Constitution itself — and failing to do so courts the very tyranny our founders fought to prevent. Stand firm: protect this nearly eight-century safeguard, preserve due process, and stop the incremental dismantling of rights that threatens us all.