President Donald Trump is taking advantage of the coronavirus pandemic to tighten his grip on power, using it to strip due process from migrants seeking asylum in the United States, a slippery slope that could threaten due process rights for Americans.

The virus has now touched all fifty states, resulting in at least 6,500 cases and over 100 deaths across the country.

Compared with the United States, Mexico only has 82 confirmed cases, yet Trump is preparing to use the crisis to advance his anti-immigration agenda by denying due process rights to migrants. That means migrants would not be able to have their cases heard in court and can be sent back across the border.

According to the New York Times:

The Trump administration plans to immediately turn back all asylum seekers and other foreigners attempting to enter the United States from Mexico illegally, saying the nation cannot risk allowing the coronavirus to spread through detention facilities and border patrol agents. The administration officials said the ports of entry would remain open to American citizens, green-card holders and foreigners with proper documentation.

“But under the new rule, set to be announced in the next 48 hours, border patrol agents would immediately return anyone to Mexico — without any detainment and without any due process — who attempts to cross the southwestern border between the legal ports of entry. They would not be held for any length of time in an American facility. Confirmed cases of the virus in Mexico stand at 82.

Anyone should be able to plainly see that this move by Trump is a threat to Americans as well. Stripping rights away from one group of people can inevitably lead to rights being stripped from others. Trump is not preventing people from contracting the coronavirus by keeping foreigners from coming here. And he’s certainly not doing so by taking away due process. This is yet another stealth action being taken by Trump under the cover of the pandemic.

The Justice Department recently dropped the case against the Russians that former Special Counsel Robert Mueller had built.

Now the Trump administration is targeting due process rights, and who knows how many other sinister plans he is cooking up to execute while the coronavirus crisis continues. Trump could not only strip more rights away, but he could also target the 2020 Election so he can hold on to power. Because once a dictator starts taking rights away, they don’t just stop.

 

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