Jerry Hanson: We are at a tipping point

The column below reflects the views of the author, and these opinions are neither endorsed nor supported by WisOpinion.com.

Deporting migrant criminals was in part what Trump was elected to do. But he must do this within the bounds of American law. The administration argues that each Venezuelan was carefully vetted for gang affiliation. The alleged gang members were deported without a hearing in an immigration court; much less a criminal conviction.

Trump claims the migrants weren’t entitled to due process because he invoked the Alien Enemies Act. This Act can only be invoked when there has been a declaration of war. The deportees were frog-marched into a maximum security prison in El Salvador.

Many families have said innocent relatives were swept up in a cross country dragnet who had done nothing to warrant being locked in a brutal foreign prison. Trump argues that he alone gets to decide what counts as an invasion and who is an enemy alien.

Trump is asserting he has the authority to seize any person off the street and lock them up in a foreign prison. This is a rejection of the “rule of law” which is the bedrock of our Constitution. When a federal judge ordered the deportations paused because of due process issues; the planes continued on to El Salvador.

The possible miscarriage of justice is now front and center. A court order can be appealed but it must be obeyed. If Trump violates that order we no longer have a democracy but a government that operates at the whims of one person.

We are approaching a showdown between a president who rejects the “rule of law” and a judge sworn to enforce the Constitution and its laws.

We are at a tipping point. Each American must decide is the president bound by our laws or is the law whatever a president chooses?

Choose wisely. The future of our Democracy is in the balance.

-Hanson, of Elkhorn, is a member of the Walworth County Democratic Party.