Trump Repeats Another Right-Wing Media Lie, Claims Undocumented Immigrants Don't Have Right To Due Process

The Supreme Court Decided in 1896 That All People In The U.S. Have Constitutional Rights

Written by Media Matters Staff

Published

On the February 10 edition of Fox News' The O'Reilly Factor, Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump falsely claimed that undocumented immigrants “may or may not” have the right to a court hearing before a judge before being deported. In fact, undocumented immigrants have the right to due process, a constitutional issue settled by the Supreme Court “as far back as 1896.” Trump's claim echoes right-wing media personalities like Glenn Beck, Laura Ingraham, Rush Limbaugh, and Sean Hannity, who also have challenged this notion.

BILL O'REILLY (HOST): So now let's go on to your statement. You're going to deport 12 million people. As you have to know, each one of the 12 million people here illegally is entitled to due process. That means that if Donald Trump as president issues a deportation order they are entitled to a court hearing in front of a judge. With 12 million people it takes us up to --

DONALD TRUMP: They may or may not be. 

O'REILLY: They are -- 2086 

DONALD TRUMP: Excuse me, if they're here illegally -- Bill, if they're here illegally, they may or they may not be. Just like the argument we had about the anchor babies. In my opinion you don't need --  

O'REILLY: I'm telling, you all settled law says once you're here you are entitled to our constitutional protections, every single case. All right. Just so you know. 

TRUMP: I disagree, okay? I disagree. That doesn't mean I wouldn't do that, that doesn't mean I wouldn't do it.  

O'REILLY: They will block you.  

TRUMP: If they are here illegally, I disagree with you.  

O'REILLY: They'll block it. In federal court they'll block it.

TRUMP: They're here illegally, Bill.

O'REILLY: Look, Obama just got blocked on --

TRUMP: Bill, they are here illegally.  

O'REILLY: That doesn't matter. They are entitled to constitutional protections. Obama got blocked on, A) his illegal immigration amnesty, and B), in telling the coal companies that you can't have a certain amount of emissions. He got blocked on both of them.

TRUMP: We -- you and I had an argument not so long ago about the anchor babies, where somebody comes, has the baby here and they're forever going to be taken care of.

O'REILLY: And that's law.

TRUMP: And everybody said you need a new constitutional amendment to end that. They turned out to be wrong. I turned out to be right. You just need an act of Congress. You don't need a new constitutional amendment. And we had the same discussion. There's a real question --

O'REILLY: You can change the law but not retroactively. You can change it but not retroactively.

TRUMP: Okay. So that would mean-- Ok. So, so Bill, what you're saying would mean that if somebody just walked across the border, just walked across and they are here for a couple days and Border Patrol catches them, they can't bring them back, we have to go through a whole long process. Because you are not right about that.  

O'REILLY: It depends. They can catch them in the act of crossing, if they catch them in the act of crossing, they can repatriate right away. If they're here and established, they get the due process. Alright. One more thing.  

TRUMP: I disagree.   

O'REILLY: All right. Okay. That's what makes our program great, we have lively debate, you know that.