South Carolina Sen. Lindsay Graham strongly suggested that congressional Republicans won’t roll over on Donald Trump’s draconian immigration plans. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
Trump promised during a “60 Minutes” interview last Sunday to deport at least 3 million illegal immigrants during the first 100 days in office and register Muslim’s from countries where terrorists are active.
But the president-elect, who has no experience in government, apparently hasn’t taken into account the legal ramifications of forcefully trying to deport anyone without due process guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution.
Actual deportations can involve months of legal wrangling. Host countries are also under no obligation to accept a deportee, according to legal references.
As a result, some Trump insiders have been floating trial balloons about using World War II “internment camps” as a precedent to corral illegal immigrants until their status can be sorted out.
Trump transition team member Kris Kobach said the administration could use the precedent set by World War II-era Japanese internment camps to force Muslim-Americans from countries where terrorists are active to register with the government, according to The New York Times.
Carl Higbie, a former spokesman for Great America PAC, which support Trump’s election, also told Fox News’ “The Kelly File” that the internment camp precedent could also be used justify tagging immigrants.
Following the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, thousands of law-abiding Japanese-Americans were forced to leave their homes and businesses because of unsubstantiated paranoia about their loyalty.
The episode has been been widely viewed as one of the darker periods in the nation’s history.
Higbie said he “fundamentally” disagreed with “the internment camp mantra and doing it at all,” but insisted it would be legal, provoking a strong reaction.
Rep. Mark Takano, a California Democrat, said in a statement Higbie’s comments reflected “an alarming resurgence of racism and xenophobia in our political discourse.”
Takano, whose parents and grandparents were interred in a World War II camp, called on Trump to repudiate the remarks.
In the 1980s, Congress passed and Republican President Ronald Reagan signed into law a bill formally apologizing to Japanese-Americans for the internment camps.
Graham jumped into the fray with a warning for Trump on Tuesday. He told him to keep his hands off an executive order signed by President Obama that protects immigrant children.
Known as the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, or “Dream Act,” it protects children from deportation who have lived in the United States most or all of their lives.
“Here is a problem that we have: You’ve got about a million DREAM Act kids who came here as small children, lived here all their lives. Now they have legal status by executive order,” Graham told reporters.
Graham said he would oppose any effort by the Trump administration to deport people protected by the DREAM Act.
“I will not vote for a bill that … quite frankly, treats a grandmother and drug dealer the same,” he said.
Footnote: During the election, Higbie’s Great American PAC was caught in a sting by a UK newspaper over efforts to arrange an illegal $2 million “donation” from a foreign national. The sting provided a window into so-called “dark money” flowing into the Trump campaign.
London Telegraph reporters posing as “consultants” for a Chinese businessman approached Great American senior executives, who suggested ways to “launder” the money to avoid the letter, if not the intent, of federal campaign laws.
The group spent heavily on pro-Trump television ads and grassroots organizing.
Check out the Kelly File video below and let us know your thoughts.