NBC News recently sounded the alarm after Trump replied, “I don’t know” when asked about upholding the Constitution in reference to deporting illegal immigrants without due process.
The media’s outrage was predictable, accusing Trump of threatening the Constitution, human rights, and the very soul of America.
When did NBC News become judge and jury as to what is and is not constitutional?
But behind the breathless hysteria lies the most basic truth no one in the elite media wants to admit: The people Trump is talking about — millions of illegal immigrants who knowingly and willfully broke our laws to enter this country — already bypassed due process.
They intentionally sidestepped legal immigration channels, ignored visa rules, and refused lawful entry procedures. To claim they are now entitled to full constitutional protections is not just misguided — it’s wrong.
Due process is a cornerstone of American law. But like all rights, it is bounded by context. It is not a universal entitlement owed to anyone who manages to set foot on U.S. soil. It is part of a legal framework designed for citizens and lawful residents.
The idea that a foreign national, having committed the very act of entering the country illegally, can then weaponize the Constitution to delay or avoid removal is a perversion of justice.
And yet that is precisely what the media and the political left are demanding.
This is not a new debate. There is clear precedent in American history where constitutional rights, including due process and habeas corpus, were temporarily limited, suspended or reinterpreted in response to national emergencies.
Facing the outbreak of civil war, Abraham Lincoln suspended habeas corpus to arrest Confederate sympathizers and protect Union infrastructure.
When Chief Justice Roger Taney ruled Lincoln’s actions unconstitutional in Ex parte Merryman, Lincoln ignored the court. He believed, rightly, that preserving the nation took precedence over legal formalities.
“Are all the laws but one to go unexecuted, and the government itself go to pieces, lest that one be violated?” he asked.
During World War II, Franklin Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9066 authorizing the internment of Japanese Americans. Over 110,000 individuals were relocated to camps without traditional due process.
The Supreme Court upheld the policy in Korematsu v. United States. While that decision has since been discredited, the precedent it represents is undeniable: The government has always had the power to respond decisively when national security is at risk.
George W. Bush used that same justification after 9/11 to detain suspected terrorists at Guantanamo Bay, denying them immediate access to U.S. courts.
Years passed before Boumediene v. Bush extended habeas corpus rights to those detainees, but in the interim, the courts largely accepted the government's argument that constitutional rights do not apply equally to foreign nationals captured abroad during times of emergency.
Today, we face a different kind of national emergency — millions of illegals crossed into the U.S. under the Biden administration.
Cartels smuggle fentanyl and humans across with impunity. American cities and towns have been overrun and overwhelmed, resources drained, social services stretched to a breaking point.
Let’s be honest: This isn’t about human rights. It’s about power and control. The left wants a porous border because it produces a steady flow of future voters, economic dependents and cultural leverage.
But they can’t admit that, so they scream “due process” and “rule of law” instead, trying to turn the Constitution into yet another political weapon.
But the Constitution is not a suicide pact. There is no legal requirement that we provide the full spectrum of constitutional protections to someone who has entered the country illegally, especially when they did so deliberately, knowing they were breaking the law.
Deportation is not a punishment — it’s a restoration of sovereignty. It doesn’t require a full criminal trial, and it certainly doesn’t require that taxpayers foot the bill for endless legal proceedings that delay justice and reward evasion.
And make no mistake: every illegal immigrant who crosses the border and claims asylum is coached by NGOs and immigration lawyers to exploit our legal system — to trigger lengthy appeals, to clog the courts, to anchor themselves in American soil long enough to avoid removal.
That’s not due process. It's naked manipulation.
What Trump is doing — swift deportations for those who entered the country illegally — is not radical. It’s not unconstitutional. It’s not even new. It’s common sense. It’s what immigration law is supposed to be: a system that favors the lawful, not the lawless.
The lesson is clear: Rights in the Constitution are powerful, but they are not absolute. They exist within the structure of law and citizenship. When applied blindly to those who disregard that structure entirely, they lose all meaning.
America cannot survive as a nation if it cannot enforce its own laws. And it certainly cannot survive if it treats illegal entrants better than its own citizens.
The real constitutional crisis isn’t what Trump said — it’s the Democrats and media’s relentless campaign to convince the public that enforcing immigration law is unconstitutional. It is that lie that truly threatens the soul of America.
Robert Chernin is a business leader, political adviser, and podcast host. He has been a consultant on presidential, senatorial, congressional, and gubernatorial races, including roles in the campaigns of George W. Bush and John McCain. Robert serves as chairman of Israel Appreciation Day, American Center for Education and Knowledge, and The American Coalition. Read Robert Chernin's Reports — More Here.
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