New York, United States, (EFE).- United States President Donald Trump on Sunday defended his controversial immigration policies, particularly the mass deportation of undocumented immigrants, some of which critics say may violate the constitutional right to “due process.”
In an interview with NBC that aired Sunday, Trump distanced himself from accusations of legal misconduct, insisting the issue is being handled by the Department of Justice, (DOJ).
“I’m relying on the attorney general of the United States, Pam Bondi, who’s very capable, doing a great job. Because I’m not involved in the legality or the illegality,” Trump said. “I have lawyers to do that and that’s why I have a great DOJ.”
When asked whether everyone in the US is entitled to “due process,” Trump replied, “I don’t know. I’m not, I’m not a lawyer. I don’t know.”
The president argued that following traditional legal procedures would require a massive number of immigration trials, significantly delaying deportations.
“We’d have to have a million or 2 million or 3 million trials,” he said. “We have thousands of people that are— some murderers and some drug dealers and some of the worst people on Earth.”
“I was elected to get them the hell out of here, and the courts are holding me from doing it,” he added.
When asked whether he, as president, has a duty to uphold the US Constitution in this regard, Trump responded, “I don’t know,” adding, “I have brilliant lawyers that work for me.”
In one of the controversial actions under his istration, hundreds of undocumented migrants, mostly Venezuelans reportedly with no known criminal records, have been transferred to maximum-security prisons in El Salvador.
The istration has invoked the 18th-century Alien Enemies Act to justify the mass deportations, prompting swift legal challenges from human rights organizations.
Despite the backlash, Trump said he has no plan to end the national emergency he declared at the US-Mexico border in January.
“The big emergency right now is that we have thousands of people that we want to take out, and we have some judges that want everybody to go to court,” he said. “We have a massive emergency overall.” EFE
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