Perryman: “It was never about immigration policy and that’s what we’re seeing because if it was, you would actually see the President using lawful processes, which he’s not interested in.”
Washington, D.C. – On Sunday, Democracy Forward President & CEO Skye Perryman joined MSNBC’s The Weekend to discuss the Trump-Vance administration’s overreach and abuse of executive authority on issues of abiding by court orders, due process and immigration policy.
Since Inauguration, Democracy Forward has emerged as a critical bulwark against the unlawful actions that we are seeing the new administration take. The organization has filed 69 legal actions and launched 90 investigations, securing multiple significant victories that directly protect Americans from harmful policies. Last week, Democracy Forward and our partners won two critical cases blocking the administration’s attempts to dismantle the Department of Education and reorganize federal agencies.
Key Perryman Excerpts:
- On the Trump-Vance administration’s abuse of power: “Americans didn’t vote for this. And I think that’s the place where the president here is flying too close to the sun. You have the vast majority of people, again over 80%, expect compliance with court orders. People have concerns about immigration policy in this country. Congress has not passed comprehensive immigration reform. But this isn’t about immigration policy. We have people that are being sent as a mistake and not being returned. We have American citizens who are being detained without process, and so I think that this is far beyond what anybody, I think, voted for. And I think that the President and his associates are going to start being held accountable by the people. You see that happening in communities across the country.”
- On the administration’s disregard for due process: “We know if it can happen to Mr. Garcia, if it can happen to people on planes where judges tell you to turn the planes around and the administration gleefully – the judge found – did not, it can happen to any of us. And that’s really what due process is, and it seems this administration is inconvenienced by the rights that everyone in this country has. They are inconvenienced by the Constitution. It is clear that their strategy is being run out of the White House by people like Stephen Miller, who were not even lawyers, who appear to – even yesterday in his tweets – be completely inconvenienced and upset that the American people have a Constitution that entitles them to rights and that it is the judges jobs to enforce those rights. And for all of the rhetoric out of the White House about how people are a threat to our way of life, it is this that’s a threat to the American way of life. It is due process that separates this country from places like Russia and Iran and China. And you are not seeing this administration actually double down on the things that are uniquely American.”
- On Secretary Noem’s congressional testimony on habeas corpus: “I do think that we’re at a real crisis point where you have an administration that does not want to be beholden to our Constitution or the rule of law. They’re seeking to normalize suggestions: well maybe we don’t have due process, maybe certain people aren’t entitled to due process. Well, that’s not how due process works. It’s for all of us. All of this is part of a normalization of things that are not normal in a democracy and I think that we have to be vigilant about that.”
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