Here’s an essential way to enforce immigration law that most Americans support

For many years, and especially during the Trump administration, the far left and mainstream media exerted much effort to brand deportations a dirty word. They called President Barack Obama the "Deporter in Chief," even though his own Department of Homeland Security secretary admitted they were cooking the books to make deportations look larger than they really were.  

Criticism devolved during the Trump administration, labeling our efforts of enforcing the immigration laws passed by Congress as inhumane and racist. Infamously, in a blatant appeasement to the far left, then-candidate Joe Biden pledged there would be zero deportations during his first 100 days in office, including of criminal aliens convicted of the most heinous offenses. 

The progressive demonization continues today even as the Biden administration is removing record-low numbers of illegal aliens. In a recent article, Axios described the concept of removing illegal aliens from our country as "former President Trump’s harshest immigration plans." 

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Yet, after all this time misrepresenting and sensationalizing deportations, it must have come as a shock to the open borders left that Axios’ own polling shows that more than half of the American people support mass deportations, including 42% of Democrats. The poll also found that 68% of Americans believe illegal immigration causes major problems in our communities, echoing the alarms repeatedly raised by New York City Democrat Mayor Eric Adams and other sanctuary city politicians. 

Migrants rest and prepare for the night on the bank of the dry riverbed of the Rio Grande at the US-Mexico border in Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua state, Mexico, on Wednesday, April 24, 2024. (Justin Hamel/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

After three years of the worst humanitarian and security crisis at the southern border in our nation’s history, the American people have said enough is enough. No longer is securing the border enough, action must be taken against the tens of millions of illegal aliens in our country, including the record number the Biden administration has allowed into American communities across the country during his term.  

One of many options to accomplish this goal is to significantly increase removal proceedings, the technical term for deportations. It’s time to demystify deportations and refute the prevailing liberal narrative that removing aliens who have violated our immigration laws, whether or not they entered the country lawfully or unlawfully, is controversial.  

In fact, removals are a civil and not a criminal matter. The U.S. Supreme Court has consistently held since at least 1893 that deportation is not even a punishment — it is simply the mechanism of returning aliens to their home countries after it is determined that they lack a lawful basis to remain in the U.S. 

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The process is time-consuming and includes numerous layers of appellate opportunities, including for the unlawful border crossers who made dubious asylum claims to block the streamlined expedited removal process. It is far from game over after immigration judges order aliens removed.  

After that, they have the option to appeal the decision to the Board of Immigration Appeals within the Department of Justice. Even if they uphold the removal order, our immigration laws allow many aliens who have exhausted these administrative remedies to further appeal in the federal courts, including the possibility of going all the way up to the U.S. Supreme Court.  

Claims that this process is unfair are unfounded. Reforms could certainly improve the removal proceedings process, but illegal aliens are given their day in court to make the case that they qualify for humanitarian relief or some other immigration status that would allow them to remain in the country lawfully.  

And yet, those on the far left still complain about deportations because they fundamentally oppose immigration enforcement. This mindset is absurd and outside the mainstream thinking of the American people. 

The progressive demonization continues today even as the Biden administration is removing record-low numbers of illegal aliens. In a recent article, Axios described the concept of removing illegal aliens from our country as "former President Trump’s harshest immigration plans." 

Removing or deporting aliens is a fundamental aspect of how you properly administer immigration law. Currently, approximately 1.5 million illegal aliens remain in the United States with a final order of removal after exhausting all of their attempts in court. This defiance, after spending years in various courts, makes a mockery of our immigration system. 

An America First administration must protect the homeland and national sovereignty by securing the border and by imposing legal consequences to aliens who violate our immigration laws. Every country in the world deports people, it’s part of the government’s responsibility to protect national security. The Biden administration is failing in this responsibility, but the next America First administration will deliver results. 

Robert Law is director of the Center for Homeland Security and Immigration at the America First Policy Institute and a former senior official at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services during the Trump administration.

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Chad Wolf is the former acting secretary of the Department of Homeland Security and executive director and chair of the Center for Homeland Security and Immigration at the America First Policy Institute.