Democrats standing up for due process in deportation cases are being excoriated by Republicans as “soft on crime” as Trump administration deportation efforts ramp up.
In cases like that of “mistakenly” deported Kilmar Abrego Garcia, Democrats find themselves in a political dilemma: they are portrayed by MAGA loyalists as defending gang members and criminals (both of which the Trump administration says Garcia is) when they are more precisely trying to defend the right to due process, even for people with checkered backgrounds.
The defense of the rights of Garcia, who the Trump administration sent from the U.S. to a prison in El Salvador, and other deportees is rendered by Democrats on the grounds that to neglect their right to due process is to enable a slippery slope that puts any U.S. resident or citizen at risk of deportation without a hearing.
Judges across the country have raised similar objections to the deportation process, including a Boston judge whose injunction against the immediate deportation of some Trump administration ICE targets is being challenged by the Department of Justice and skewered by Trump policy guru Stephen Miller.
Miller, sharing the DOJ post, claimed that allegedly left-leaning judges are “conducting foreign relations” — a job beyond their authority — and, as a result, endangering Americans and ICE agents by holding up the deportation of allegedly dangerous criminals illegally present in the U.S.
Congressman Eric Swalwell (D-CA) tried to flip the script on Miller, suggesting that deportation wasn’t the proper course of action because it didn’t do enough to protect Americans.
If they are murderers and child predators why don’t we lock them up FOREVER in the USA rather than sending them abroad and risking they re-enter America and re-offend. This is actually insane. I don’t trust anyone else to protect us from these monsters. https://t.co/31nHHWtHNh
— Rep. Eric Swalwell (@RepSwalwell) May 26, 2025
Swalwell wrote that “if they are murderers and child predators why don’t we lock them up FOREVER in the USA rather than sending them abroad and risking they re-enter America and re-offend.”
Deportation in the case of violent and predatory criminals is “actually insane,” Swalwell added, when the opportunity exists to “lock them up forever in the USA.”
Incarcerating such potential deportees is, the Congressman said, the only real guarantee that they won’t harm Americans in the future.
While many MAGA adherents in the comments portray the judges as obstructing executive branch authority — and call for their punishment — one adjunct law professor in the comments offers the following divergent perspective on the DOJ action that Miller shared.
Federal courts absolutely can direct the conduct of the Executive Branch when it violates the law—including in matters touching foreign relations. The Judiciary has the authority to review and enjoin Executive action that exceeds lawful authority or infringes upon individual…
— Marc² (@mgsquared) May 26, 2025
“Federal courts absolutely can direct the conduct of the Executive Branch when it violates the law—including in matters touching foreign relations,” writes X user Marc².
“The Judiciary has the authority to review and enjoin Executive action that exceeds lawful authority or infringes upon individual rights. This is not a question of ‘faithfully executing’ the law—this is about whether the President has the authority under the law in the first place. The Supreme Court has ruled on this for centuries: the President is not above the law.”