1. United States
2. Ga.
3. Letter

The Trump administration's plan to potentially deport U.S. citizens convicted of certain crimes to foreign prisons in El Salvador represents a brazen violation of constitutional rights. Deporting American citizens from their own country and stripping them of fundamental due process protections goes against core principles enshrined in the Constitution. This alarming proposal raises grave legal and moral concerns. The government does not have the authority to summarily exile U.S. citizens or deprive them of their citizenship without affording them proper judicial proceedings and an opportunity to contest such action. Forcibly rendering Americans to a foreign nation's prisons, where they may lack recourse to challenge their detention or vindicate their rights, is an egregious overreach of executive power. This scheme follows the administration's illegal deportation of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a non-citizen who was wrongfully expelled to El Salvador before courts could review his case. Despite a judge ordering his return, the government has refused to facilitate it, claiming he is outside U.S. jurisdiction – setting a dangerous precedent that could extend to citizens under the proposed plan. Deporting one's own people to foreign lands harkens back to banishment practices the American revolutionaries rejected. As a nation founded on principles of due process and human rights, we cannot permit such a flagrant assault on civil liberties under the guise of fighting crime. This chilling proposal requires an immediate legal rebuke to prevent further constitutional violations.