By John Kruzel
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -President Donald Trump said he was unsure whether people in the U.S. are entitled to due process rights guaranteed in the U.S. Constitution as his administration pushes aggressively to deport immigrants who are in the country illegally and other non-citizens.
Trump made his comments during an interview conducted on Friday that was set to air on Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press with Kristen Welker.” Welker asked Trump whether he agreed with Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who said last month that “of course” all people in the U.S. are entitled to due process, which generally requires the government to provide notice and a hearing before taking certain adverse legal actions.
“I don’t know. I’m not, I’m not a lawyer. I don’t know,” Trump said, adding that such a requirement would mean “we’d have to have a million or 2 million or 3 million trials.”
Trump added that his lawyers “are going to obviously follow what the Supreme Court said.”
On April 19 the Supreme Court justices temporarily barred the Trump administration from deporting a group of Venezuelan migrants it accused of being gang members. Trump’s administration, which has invoked a rarely used wartime law, has urged the justices to lift or narrow their order.
U.S. Solicitor General D. John Sauer said in a filing to the Supreme Court that detainees are receiving advance notice of their removals and have had “adequate time” to file claims for judicial review.
The justices also directed Trump’s administration on April 10 to facilitate the return to the United States of a Salvadoran man who the government has acknowledged was deported in error to El Salvador.
That man, Kilmar Abrego Garcia, remains in a detention center in El Salvador. A federal judge presiding over the case has ordered Trump’s administration to provide additional information on what steps it has taken to secure Abrego Garcia’s return.
Separately, Trump said during the NBC interview that pursuing a third presidential term “is not something I’m looking to do.”
“It’s something that, to the best of my knowledge, you’re not allowed to do,” said Trump, who has occasionally hinted he would like to run for a third term.
The Constitution’s 22nd Amendment states in part: “No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice.”
(Reporting by John KruzelEditing by Scott Malone and Frances Kerry)
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