Sockel and the Trump administration are justifying treating asylum seekers as hardened criminals — heavily militarized raids, rough and abusive arrests, extended detention in facilities under inhumane conditions* — while also claiming that because these are civil matters, the government isn’t obligated to give them the full slate of due process rights. The courts seem largely okay with this. That doesn’t mean we should be.
(*Most of these things aren’t really acceptable treatment for hardened criminals, either.)
It’s true that the courts have ruled that undocumented immigrants do not have the same full complement of rights that legal residents and citizens have. But thus far, the courts have been clear that immigrants — including undocumented immigrants — have the absolute right to be heard and to adequate due process when it comes to deportation.
