President Trump has suggested deporting U.S. criminals to a prison in El Salvador “if it’s legal.” But the Constitution is clear on the issue, according to a legal scholar at Georgetown. For more context, News4’s Tracee Wilkins reports.
During a Monday press conference, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said President Trump is considering deporting American criminals, if it is legal.
The comment has raised new concerns over just who can be deported from the United States.
Trump has previously mentioned deporting incarcerated U.S. citizens, but the issue re-emerged Sunday when he addressed the El Salvadorian president's offer to house American criminals, saying "he'd be honored to give them" if it's legal.
Leavitt then gave more insight into what Trump meant at a press conference the next day.
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"The president's idea for American citizens to potentially be deported, these would be heinous violent criminals who have broken our nation's laws repeatedly," Leavitt said. "These are violent repeat offenders on American streets. The president has said 'if it is legal,' if there is a legal pathway to do that. He's not sure, we are not sure if there is, it's an idea that he has simply floated and has discussed very publicly, in the effort of transparency."
News4 spoke with Georgetown law professor David Super, who said the Constitution is clear on this issue.
"Being a citizen matters," Super said. "The Supreme Court says we should understand the Constitution in its original terms, and being a citizen means this is your country. We allow the government in extreme cases to kill people, but we don't allow it to throw people out."
Super, who studies constitutional law, says this question comes at an inflection point — one the country has not experienced before.
