Talking Points Memo: The ‘Invasion’ Invention: The Far Right’s Long Legal Battle to Make Immigrants the Enemy

The Trump administration is using the claim that immigrants have “invaded” the country to justify possibly suspending habeas corpus, part of the constitutional right to due process. A faction of the far right has been building this case for years.

When top Trump adviser Stephen Miller threatened on May 9 that the administration is “actively looking at” suspending habeas corpus in response to an “invasion” from undocumented immigrants, he was operating on a fringe legal theory that a right-wing faction has been working to legitimize for more than a decade.

Hard-liners have referred to immigrants as “invaders” as long as the U.S. has had immigration. By 2022, invasion rhetoric, which had previously been relegated to white nationalist circles, had become such a staple of Republican campaign ads that most of the public agreed an invasion of the U.S. via the southern border was underway.

Now, however, the claim that the U.S. is under invasion has become the legal linchpin of President Donald Trump’s sweeping anti-immigrant campaign.

The claim is Trump’s central justification for invoking the Alien Enemies Act to deport roughly 140 Venezuelans to CECOT, the Salvadoran megaprison, without due process. (The administration cited different legal authority for the remaining deportees.) The Trump administration contends they are members of a gang, Tren de Aragua, that Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro is directing to infiltrate and operate in the United States. Lawyers and families of many of the deportees have presented evidence the prisoners are not even members of Tren de Aragua.

The contention is also the throughline of Trump’s day one executive order “Protecting the American People Against Invasion.” That document calls for the expansion of immigration removal proceedings without court hearings and for legal attacks against sanctuary jurisdictions, places that refuse to commit local resources to immigration enforcement.

So far, no court has bought the idea that the U.S. is truly under invasion….

And therein lies the problem: The Trump regime is off pursuing an unconstitutional tangent to solve a problem that is improperly framed as an “invasion”.

It’s a long well-researched article. Please click on the link below and read the entire article.

https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/the-invasion-invention-the-far-rights-long-legal-battle-to-make-immigrants-the-enemy

Salon: Kristi [Bimbo #2] Noem’s proud MAGA bimbo act builds on the legacy of Sarah Palin

Does Kristi [Bimbo #2] Noem know what habeas corpus is? One thing we know for certain: She would very much like Americans to believe she does not. On Tuesday, the head of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) used a Senate hearing to insist the legal term means the opposite of its actual definition. “Habeas corpus is a constitutional right that the president has to be able to remove people from this country and suspend their right to,” [Bimbo #2] Noem said through her unnervingly Botox-inflated lips. She was interrupted by Sen. Maggie Hassan, D-N.H., who explained to a smug-looking [Bimbo #2] Noem that, no, habeas corpus “requires that the government provide a public reason for detaining and imprisoning people” and is the reason it’s illegal for Donald Trump to round up immigrants and imprison them in foreign gulags without offering a legal reason why.

There was much mockery of [Bimbo #2] Noem for being so dumb in mainstream and left-leaning media, but notably, neither [Bimbo #2] Noem nor her allies have shown any shame or defensiveness about her alleged mistake. Whether [Bimbo #2] Noem comes by her confusion honestly or she was just play-acting, she’s there to play the role of the proud MAGA bimbo, in the grand tradition of figures like Sarah Palin.

The MAGA bimbo isn’t just ignorant. She’s contemptuous of people who actually know what they’re talking about, especially if those facts-laden human beings are fellow women.

https://www.salon.com/2025/05/23/kristi-noems-proud-maga-bimbo-act-builds-on-the-legacy-of-sarah-palin

MSNBC: Kristi Noem [Bimbo #2] is making the homeland less secure

The former governor is overseeing a vast machine dedicated to encroaching on rights that she may not even know Americans have.

Since her confirmation as secretary of homeland security in January, Kristi [Bimbo #2] Noem has appeared completely over her head at her new job. Most recently, when asked to define the legal principle of “habeas corpus,” the former South Dakota governor — one of the country’s top law enforcement officials — face-planted.

It was merely the latest in a string of embarrassments that underscores that America is less safe with Noem assigned as its chief protector. Noem’s [Bimbo #2’s] department — hastily founded in a moment of fear — is charged with protecting the United States from threats both external and internal. With her focus turned almost exclusively toward executing President Donald Trump’s mass deportation policy at all costs, the Department of Homeland Security has become a threat to our rights and liberties — many of which Noem apparently doesn’t even know Americans possess.

… over the last few years, she has systematically recrafted herself as the perfect TV-ready simulacrum of a MAGA Cabinet member. Even though her state is nowhere near the border, as governor she glommed on to the right-wing anti-immigrant fervor. Even when Trump has been skeptical of her qualifications, as during her brief time on the shortlist to be his running mate last year, he has rewarded her loyalty to the cause.

But her most Trumpian public relations efforts since she took office have backfired. Noem has been roundly mocked for her costume choices in her interviews and for wearing full-face makeup when she has tagged along on Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids. The $50,000 Rolex flashing on her wrist while she posed in front of incarcerated men at a mega-prison in El Salvador smacked of callous cruelty. And the theft of her bag — along with $3,000 cash and her work badge — while she was sitting in a Washington restaurant was peak irony for a top security official.

But Noem’s [Bimbo #2’s] performance in front of the Senate Homeland Security Committee on Tuesday underscored how truly ill-equipped she is for this moment — or, at least, for a job to keep Americans safe. While Noem [Bimbo #2] was testifying on Trump’s budget request for the upcoming year, Sen. Maggie Hassan, D-N.H., questioned her about the ancient right to challenge an arrest or imprisonment:

“Well, habeas corpus is a constitutional right that the president has to be able to remove people from this country, and suspend their right to … ,” Noem responded before she was cut off by Hassan.

“That’s incorrect,” the senator said.

Yes, Kristi [Bimbo #2] Noem really is that stupid!

https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/kristi-noem-habeas-corpus-senate-deportation-rcna208009

NBC News: Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem struggles to define habeas corpus at Senate hearing

“Habeas corpus is a constitutional right that the president has to be able to remove people from this country,” Noem said. “That’s incorrect,” a Democratic senator responded.


My God, how stupid is this woman?


Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem mangled a response to a question about habeas corpus at a Senate hearing Tuesday, referring to the constitutional right of due process as a “right that the president has to be able to remove people from this country.”

Sen. Maggie Hassan, D-N.H., asked Noem about the constitutional protection after noting that White House adviser Stephen Miller told reporters earlier this month that the administration was “actively looking at” suspending habeas corpus, the right to challenge an arrest or imprisonment.

“I want to clarify your position,” Hassan asked. “What is habeas corpus?”

“Well, habeas corpus is a constitutional right that the president has to be able to remove people from this country, and suspend their right to … ,” Noem responded before she was cut off by Hassan.

“That’s incorrect,” the senator said.

“Habeas corpus is the legal principle that requires that the government provide a public reason for detaining and imprisoning people. If not for that protection, the government could simply arrest people, including American citizens, and hold them indefinitely for no reason,” Hassan said, calling it a “foundational right.”

“So Secretary Noem, do you support the core protection that habeas corpus provides, that the government must provide a public reason in order to detain and imprison someone?” she asked.

Noem responded, “I support habeas corpus. I also recognize that the president of the United States has the authority under the Constitution to decide if it should be suspended or not.” 

Uhh … no, he doesn’t.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/rcna207986