Due Process

 

There's a storm brewing over the issue of 'due process' as it applies to a certain category of people.  Whether you call them 'illegal immigrants' or 'undocumented tourists' or something else (and I'm not going to be drawn into that argument), the current furor is engendered by the position — widely held on 'the left' — that such persons may not be deported without 'due process'.

Estimates of the magnitude of the population to which this applies range from 11 million to 35 million, and the due process demanded is (apparently) a full jury trial for each such affected person.  Not to put too fine a point on it, doing so would take centuries and cost trillions, that is: a practical impossibility which, it seems, is the point of the demand.  Obviously, doing so is tantamount to granting permanent residency status to virtually all of them.

Lost in the uproar is one critical fact that almost no one is paying attention to:  'due process' is different for different categories of persons.  For an invading army that storms ashore on one of our beaches, 'due process' is a bullet.  To suggest that someone who bypassed recognized procedures for entering a country is entitled to the same due process that a citizen of that country requires is patent nonsense.

For the United States currently, we require those entering the country to present a passport or equivalent, and to possess an entry visa for certain countries-of-origin.  Someone who enters the US without doing so becomes an illegal immigrant, and the process due a person accused of entering the country without following the prescribed procedures (presenting their passport and being granted leave to enter) is to appear before a magistrate of appropriate jurisdiction where it can be determined that the certain person (a) is not a US citizen, and (b) has not been granted leave to enter.  If those two conditions are true, the magistrate orders the person deported.  No jury need be empaneled, and no other issues need be addressed, although the magistrate may consider other factors.  "Gang membership" is a red herring.  Whether the undocumented tourist is or is not a member of a criminal gang is irrelevant.