Editor’s note: During the writing of this article, the Supreme Court has paused attempts to block the President’s efforts to deport undocumented Venezuelan migrants.

With Trump entering office, the heavy immigration enforcement that he promised during his campaign has already begun. Pretty much as soon as he got through the door, he already started efforts to deport undocumented immigrants en masse. What he didn’t say, (but let’s be honest here, isn’t a huge surprise,) is that he would be deporting many documented migrants as well. One big question that has been over many people’s heads recently because of this is “How legal is this?” The short answer is that it isn’t in the slightest. He has already violated a court order to have a deportation flight turn around (Grumbach), and has even accidentally deported an innocent man and just kept him there anyways, saying it was simply too late (Yousif, Epstein). It is frankly absurd how much this goes against what we stand for as a nation, and it shows us that no one is safe from potentially being taken away without warning.

Another big way the administration is using its power is (ironically, because they claim to be such big defenders of it,) attacking freedom of speech. Since Trump has taken office, he has already deported multiple people who have no criminal record and were legally present due to them voicing support for the Palestinian people. The most famous example of this has been Columbia student Mahmoud Khalil, who was present with a green card and married to a U.S. citizen who was pregnant at the time of his detention (Offenhartz). No matter what your opinion on the conflict in Gaza is, this should be scary to you, because the same excuses they used against Khalil and others could be used against anyone else just as easily.

The conditions that many of the people being deported are being held under are also extremely inhumane. Many of the deportees are being held in an El Salvadoran detention facility known as CECOT, due to them being accused of having ties to MS-13 or Tren de Aragua. Similar to the people being detained for protesting the conflict in Gaza, many of these people have no criminal record and are being held purely on suspicion, with a report from CBS News putting the number at 75% (Contreras). This is another blatant violation of the 5th amendment of the Constitution, which grants everyone the right to due process, which has been at the core of our nation’s legal system since its inception. 

It is very important that we as Americans stand up for the rights of these people, despite ideological disagreements or differing backgrounds. After all, something similar has happened before, with the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War 2, which is almost universally agreed upon by historians to have been a gross violation of the rights of those affected. We must take what we as a nation have learned from these past mistakes to guide our current decisions, and improve standards of living from anyone. After all, if no one wants to take initiative to stop this from happening to others, who will be there to protect you? 

First they came for the Communists

And I did not speak out

Because I was not a Communist

Then they came for the Socialists

And I did not speak out

Because I was not a Socialist

Then they came for the trade unionists

And I did not speak out

Because I was not a trade unionist

Then they came for the Jews

And I did not speak out

Because I was not a Jew

Then they came for me

And there was no one left

To speak out for me 

Pastor Martin Niemöller