Durbin Condemns The Trump Administration For Ignoring The Constitution, Overwhelming The Judicial System Amid DHS’s Lawless Immigration Operation

Durbin Condemns The Trump Administration For Ignoring The Constitution, Overwhelming The Judicial System Amid DHS's Lawless Immigration Operation

Durbin: "If we have reached the point in this country [where the Executive Branch ignores the Constitution], for God's sake, are we anything less than an authoritarian state?"

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, delivered an opening statement during today's Senate Judiciary Committee executive business meeting condemning the Trump Administration's intimidation of federal judges amid the surge in immigration cases. His remarks come as the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents are carrying out the Trump Administration's cruel mass deportation scheme and using aggressive-and sometimes deadly-tactics. During his opening, Durbin cited a New York Times article that examined the frustration federal judges face amid President Trump's lawlessness in Minnesota during "Operation Metro Surge."

Key Quotes:

"Over the span of more than a year, I have, and others have joined me, in asking questions of judicial nominees-if they become judges, do they believe that court orders need to be complied with, followed, by the parties to a lawsuit… Most of us who practice law understand they have to be taken seriously. But then there came the standard answer after that, and some people were incredulous that we would even raise the issue. A judge issues an order, [then] a party follows the order. But it turns out that's not the case."

"I recommend to my colleagues an article on the front page of The New York Times this morning. It's entitled 'Surge in Immigration Cases in Minnesota Pushes Prosecutors and Judges to the Brink.' It's a situation where a young lady who volunteered to try to help the immigration case docket, Julie Le, has testified in court as to what she literally is facing when it comes to court orders that are not complied with, and it reached the point where in her frustration, she said, I guess, too much for the Administration and they fired her this week."

"Her [Julie Le's] comments also opened the window up to a broader problem: how the courts in Minnesota are buckling beneath the weight of a deluge of cases arising from the statewide campaign that the Trump Administration called 'Operation Metro Surge.' All Americans know what happened with the two innocent people who were killed in the course of the operation, but this is another aspect. The articles goes onto say: 'the turmoil in the courts has demoralized prosecutors, outraged judges, exhausted defense lawyers, and left many immigrants languishing in detention, and violation of court orders.'"

"The judge [Judge Jerry W. Blackwell, the federal judge who convened the hearing with Ms. Le] said, 'If the government undertakes an enforcement operation of this scale, one that results in the detention of large numbers of people, including individuals who are lawfully present in the United States, then the government assumes a corresponding obligation to ensure that each detention complies with the Constitution and with court orders governing release. The volume of cases and matters, is not a justification for diluting constitutional rights and it never can be. It heightens the need for care.'"

"I bring this to your attention because I can remember that each one of the nominees dutifully saying that they would follow court orders. We now have a situation whereby design, the system is overwhelmed and court orders are being ignored. If we have reached that point in this country, then for God's sake, are we anything less than an authoritarian state? If we cannot follow the Constitution and the rule of law in the courts in Minnesota or Illinois or wherever the case may be, shame on us."

"If you happen to believe that what is happening in Minnesota is a good thing, perhaps you shrug your shoulders, but if you believe it has been an embarrassment and insult to the Constitution, [then] this is unacceptable."

Video of Durbin's opening statement is available here.

Audio of Durbin's opening statement is available here.

Footage of Durbin's opening statement is available herefor TV Stations.

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