1/ Thread on what you can expect to see on the immigration front due to increasing hostilities with Iran.
2/ The immigration law was designed to give as much discretionary authority to the executive branch as humanly possible, and to preclude the judicial branch from being able to review those decisions.
3/ The Department of State (DOS) has been afforded unfettered discretionary decision-making power over the issuance of visas, their decisions in most instances are unreviewable in a court of law, and DOS doesn’t have to give a reason for a denial to afford due process.
4/ Even if a visa is issued, that does not confer a noncitizen a Constitutional right to entry. Visas may be revoked at any time, which includes at the time of the application for admission in the discretion of the inspecting officer.
5/ Very little if any explanation for the revocation is required as the applicant maintains the burden of proof.
6/ At the time of the application for admission at the port-of-entry there is no right to counsel unless and until an immigrant is being charged with a violation of criminal law.
7/ The inspecting officer in most instances is conferred the power to detain and deport you through a process called expedited removal, which is a summary decision by an immigration officer, not an immigration judge.
8/ Expedited removal is also unreviewable in a court of law.
9/ Any immigrant whose inadmissibility is being questioned or who has become subject to an expedited removal order is detained.
10/ If the inspecting officers deem that the applicant for admission is inadmissible under other grounds contained in section 212(a) of the Act, they are required to take the immigrant into custody to institute deportation proceedings.
11/ Once deportation proceedings are instituted, the Department may add whatever other charges they want, and are not limited by what was alleged in the charging document called a Notice to Appear (NTA).
12/ The NTA provides due process to a noncitizen by giving them notice of the charges against them, and the scheduling of the hearing is their opportunity to be heard to assert defenses to removal.
13/ An immigrant arriving at the border generally is detained, and when charged as an arriving alien, or deemed a threat to national security, no immigration judge has the power to set a bond to permit release from custody.
14/ An immigrant may be stuck in deportation detention for the entirety of your immigration court case, which can take months, if not years.
15/ As for being able to restrict access to the U.S., INA § 212(f) provides that the President through proclamation suspend the entry of noncitizens whenever “entry of any aliens or of any class of aliens into the United States would be detrimental to the interests of the U.S.”
16/ The President may also impose restrictions on entry deemed appropriate.
17/ Since the Department doesn’t have to give the reasons for the basis for the denial of admission, it will be very difficult for any Court to assess if the denial of a visa, or refusal of admission is based on a Constitutionally impermissible basis.
18/ Bottom line: President Trump has the legal, and Constitutional authority to instruct his officers to deny admission to any noncitizen (including Green Card holders) so long as the reason for so doing is related to a threat to national security.
19/ That said, if you hold a Green Card or are a citizen of the United States you maintain heightened due process protections.
/end
