Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem says the constitutional provision that allows people to legally challenge their detention by the government is actually a tool the Trump administration can use in its broader crackdown at the U.S.-Mexico border. She called habeas corpus “a constitutional right that the president has to be able to remove people from this country and suspend their rights.”
Noem, testifying before a congressional committee Tuesday, gave that response when asked by Sen. Maggie Hassan to define the legal concept.
Noem, testifying before a congressional committee Tuesday, gave that response when asked by Sen. Maggie Hassan to define the legal concept.
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00:00Secretary Noem, the White House Deputy Chief of Staff recently said that the
00:05Trump administration is actively looking at suspending habeas corpus. Last week
00:10you were asked about this and I want to clarify your position because it's
00:14obviously really important to get this right. So Secretary Noem, what is habeas
00:18corpus? Well, habeas corpus is a constitutional right that the president
00:24has to be able to remove people from this country and suspend their right to...
00:28Secretary Noem, let me stop you ma'am. Habeas corpus, excuse me, that's that's
00:31incorrect. President Lincoln used it. Excuse me, habeas corpus is the legal
00:37principle that requires that the government provide a public reason for
00:42detaining and imprisoning people. If not for that protection, the government could
00:46simply arrest people, including American citizens, and hold them indefinitely for
00:51no reason. Habeas corpus is the foundational right that separates free
00:56societies like America from police states like North Korea. As a senator from the
01:01live free or die state, this matters a lot to me and my constituents and to all
01:05Americans. So Secretary Noem, do you support the core protection that habeas
01:11corpus provides that the government must provide a public reason in order to
01:16detain and imprison someone? Yeah, I support habeas corpus. I also recognize that the
01:21president of the United States has the authority under the Constitution to decide
01:25if it should be suspended or not. Let us be clear, though, that this president...
01:29It has never been done without approval of Congress. Even Abraham Lincoln got retroactive
01:34approval from Congress.