Trump activates highly classified Clinton-era ‘Alien Terrorist Removal Court’
The Trump administration has decided to use an immigration enforcement measure installed during the Clinton administration, which is designed to quickly deport immigrants accused of links to terrorism without divulging state secrets. For the first time, the Alien Terrorist Removal Court is in session.
The Department of Justice last week filed a case in the court. Typically, a case filing entails the ins and outs of the prosecution’s case. Details like who is charged, what they’re accused of, and various other details are made public. This case filing consists of a single document filed via the Classified Information Security Officer.
Joan Ericksen, chief judge of the Alien Terrorist Removal Court, responded to the filing, saying the department should provide more information about why the previously unused court is the right venue for its case. She indicated that DOJ attorneys had offered to share more, albeit classified and gave the department until Wednesday to do so.
History of the court
While some other outlets have described the court as “secretive,” the court itself is nothing of the sort. The law creating the court was passed with bipartisan support and signed into law by former President Bill Clinton. While some laws can be obscured with jargon, the statute regarding this court is unambiguous.
What would qualify as secretive is the fact that many of the details regarding who is charged, what they are charged with, and any other state’s evidence are held behind a wall of classification. This isn’t sitting well with some.
Eric Lee, a federal litigation attorney and partner at Michigan-based Lee & Godshall-Bennett, said the court’s secrecy brings due process rights into question.
“To understand how dangerous this is, under INA’s ‘Alien Terrorist Removal Procedures,’ a non-citizen on US soil with constitutional rights can be charged w/ ‘endorsing or espousing’ terrorist views & deported/detained based on secret evidence that he/she never gets to see,” Lee said.
Political advocate and former Democratic National Committee member Khary Penebaker raised the same concerns.
“Using a secret, never-before-used process to label foreign nationals or their relatives ‘alien terrorists’ (and) rush them out of the country is an abuse of power,” he said. “Due process cannot hinge on a classified stamp.”
Immigration under Trump
President Donald Trump’s second term has prioritized an aggressive strategy of not only enforcing the nation’s borders but also pursuing immigrants in the country illegally.
While the administration hasn’t divulged any type of quota for immigration enforcement and denied that it has target numbers for immigrant apprehensions, statements from other government officials have suggested otherwise.
The White House has also been at odds with the courts on a number of high-profile cases where it had attempted to deport people. Most recently, immigration activist Mahmoud Khalil filed a civil lawsuit against several administration officials alleging they broke a law designed to target the Ku Klux Klan. Khalil alleges members of the White House conspired with outside groups to arrest and deport him.
The administration said that it has yet to release a single apprehended border crosser since Trump’s second term in office began.
The filing was first reported on by Court Watch.
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Ella Rae Greene, Editor In Chief
