'Simply no dispute': Legal expert says there is 'no loophole' to allow Trump's latest plan
President Donald Trump has been making it increasingly clear that he would like to start deporting American citizens to foreign prisons, but experts agree there's no legal basis that would allow him to do that.
The president reportedly thinks it's an "80-20" issue, meaning that he believes a vast majority of Americans agree that citizens who have committed certain violent crimes should be shipped off to El Salvador's notorious CECOT prison, but former Justice Department appointee Elliot Williams told "CNN This Morning" the law wouldn't permit it.
"No, there is no legal loophole," Williams said. "You know, most questions, legal questions, political questions, reasonable minds can actually differ on policy, on immigration, even the affirmative action, abortion, all that business – people can fight about it."
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"There is simply no dispute," he added. "The Constitution forbids and would forbid moving American citizens to foreign prisons, it just, where we knew that they would be tortured or mistreated in prison. That would, yeah, it would violate the Eighth Amendment to the Constitution."
That amendment prohibits cruel and unusual punishment, and Trump himself signed a federal law during his first term that mandates federal prisoners to be incarcerated no more than 500 miles from their homes – and El Salvador is well over 1,000 miles from any part of the U.S.
"They very well might be and these folks might be gang members," said Williams, who also served as assistant director for legislative affairs at U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. "They might be, they might have committed horrific acts. They're still entitled to basic due process, and the protections of here would be the Eighth Amendment against cruel and unusual punishment – full stop. it's just everybody is entitled to basic rights, even folks we really don't like or don't want in the country. perhaps.