White House press secretary Sarah Sanders defended President Trump’s tweets from the weekend advocating for the U.S. to immediately turn away immigrants without interaction with the judicial system, saying just because an immigrant doesn’t see a judge “doesn’t mean you aren’t receiving due process.”
“Thousands of illegal aliens are removed every month without seeing an immigration judge as a result of procedures in current law, including voluntary removal and expedited removal,” Sanders told reporters during Monday’s White House press briefing. “Just because you don’t see a judge doesn’t mean you aren’t receiving due process.”
Sanders said that most Americans agree “it makes no sense” that an illegal immigrant who steps on U.S. soil then proceeds through the judicial system in a process that can take several years before they are deported.
“The president would like to see us stop people from illegally entering the country at all,” she said. “We’d like to have secure borders. The Democrats are the ones that want open borders. The president would like us to secure the borders and have a very legal and easy immigration process so people can come here the right way, not the wrong way.”
Sanders was responding to a tweet from the president on Saturday that effectively called for the abolishment of due process rights for immigrants.
“We cannot allow all of these people to invade our Country. When somebody comes in, we must immediately, with no Judges or Court Cases, bring them back from where they came. Our system is a mockery to good immigration policy and Law and Order,” he tweeted.
Trump’s tweet came as the administration is facing an onslaught of criticism for its zero tolerance policy, under which all adult illegal border crossers are referred for criminal prosecution.
The policy has caused roughly 2,300 immigrant children to be separated from their parents.
Trump signed an executive order last week meant to end the family separations by allowing children and parents to remain together in detention through court proceedings.
