Trump's deportations may face challenge as prison punishment without a trial

[Eugene]

Source: Los Angeles Times

Trump's deportations may face challenge as prison punishment without a trial

David G. Savage
Fri, April 25, 2025 at 6:00 AM EDT 5 min read

President Trump has pressed for quickly deporting hundreds of Venezuelan and Salvadoran men who are said to belong to a foreign crime gang.

Those deportations have been challenged as illegal — and last week, blocked by the Supreme Court — if the detained men are not given a hearing to argue they are not gang members.

But Trump's deportations are unusual and may face a legal challenge for a different reason. Most of the deported men will not be sent back to their home country but instead to a maximum security prison in El Salvador where they can be held indefinitely.

Sending someone to prison "constitutes punishment," says UCLA law professor Ahilan Arulanantham. Before imprisoning people, including noncitizens, the government is required under the Constitution to charge the defendants with a crime and to prove their guilt in a jury trial, he said.

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Read more: https://www.yahoo.com/news/trumps-deportations-may-face-challenge-100001688.html