The ICE director sparks outrage with chilling remarks about deportations working “like Amazon Prime with human beings”

Various Trump administration officials have made clear that they wish to see the scale of deportations increased. Already, the White House has approved deportations under the Alien Enemies Act, with those detained and flown out of the country being denied due process. Claiming that those arrested were terrorists, the president’s team is arguing that they are not entitled to due process and thus can be removed without having their case heard in an immigration court.

Officials have spoken openly about the backlog in immigration courts limiting the speed at which they can carry out their deportations. Earlier this week, at a Border Security Expo, Bloomberg reported that acting ICE Director Todd Lyons voiced his frustration with the slow pace of deportations.

“We need to get better at treating this like a business, where this mass deportation operation is something like you would see and say like Amazon trying to get your Prime delivery within 24 hours,” said Lyons, continuing to say ICE is “trying to figure out how to do that with human beings.”

The language is dehumanizing, and it puts speed over the human rights and lives of those who are detained with no right to prove their innocence or claim asylum. A major component of the backlog in immigration courts is asylum requests, which represent half of all cases. The Trump administration has not made public information relating to the immigration status of those they deported, including whether or not an asylum claim had been made. Additionally, these asylum cases take time to evaluate, and with limited resources, the courts can only move so quickly. Lyons’ comments are chilling because they seem to ignore the legal rights that immigrants have in cases where their deportation could be a threat to their safety, which happens to be the case of Kilmar Abrego Garcia.

The case of Kilmar Abrego Garcia

Abrego Garcia, a Maryland father, was deported in violation of a court order from 2019 that allowed him to stay in the US because of the threats he would face if he were returned to his birth country, El Salvador. The Supreme Court has ruled that the Trump adminstration must “facilitate” the return of Mr. Garcia. In response, administration officials have raised doubts that the court could require the executive branch to “effectuate” his return.

Garcia was one of the hundreds of detainers sent to a concentration camp, which the El Salvadorian government calls a terrorist confinement center, and whose deportation has been challenged by the courts.

An attorney for the government, who has since been put on leave, informed the Supreme Court that Abrego Garcia had been deported because of an “administrative error,” comments that the Trump administration has attempted to walk back.

In court on Friday, Judge Paula Xinis, overseeing the case, said the government must provide a daily update on the Maryland resident’s condition and efforts made to facilitate his return. No such information was provided during Friday’s hearing.

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