Speaker 1: Now, we want to get some insight from immigration rights attorney Lee Gelernt. He's the deputy director of the ACLU's Immigrants' Rights Project. Thank you so much for joining us, Mr. Gelernt. So when we had talked back in November, you said, if Donald Trump tries to use the Alien Enemies Act to carry out his immigration policies, that he could easily run afoul of the law. Now that he is beginning to put his policies in place, what do you think about this legally?

Speaker 2: Yeah, there—so, there are a number of policies we think are illegal and have already started to sue on them. One is birthright citizenship. The 14th Amendment says very clearly, if you're born on U.S. soil, it doesn't matter who your parents are, you're a citizen. The Supreme Court said that a long time ago, and Congress has passed an act. Donald Trump's removal of birthright citizenship is just flying in the face of a century of consistent law and in the values of America. We filed another lawsuit on a policy we think is illegal, where he's now going to be able to pick up anybody in the country, anywhere in the country, not just the border, and remove you immediately, based on a supervisor's signature, if you cannot prove that you've been here longer than two years. So that means everyone's going to have to be carrying around papers, utility bills, whatever, if they even want a hearing. What we're saying is people can still be removed if they're here illegally and don't have a right to stay, but they need to have a hearing.

Speaker 1: In the 14th Amendment, specifically Trump's executive order on birthright citizenship declares that babies born to temporary residents, not just those in the country illegally, must be denied citizenship. Explain why that wording is so important.

Speaker 2: Well, because we think that the 14th Amendment says, if you're born here, regardless of the status of your parents—so, whether your parents are undocumented, here permanently, here temporarily, or are citizens, we think—and the Supreme Court has said, more importantly, that you're a citizen. I think one of the things that's going to come out is probably people figuring out how many great Americans were born to parents who were here temporarily or illegally. And so, it's not just a constitutional issue. I think it's a value issue for the United States.

Speaker 1: Just today, the Department of Justice released a memo saying that they will investigate state and local authorities who fail to comply with federal immigration commands. At the same time, the Las Vegas Police Department said that they're going to join officials in other so-called sanctuary cities in not enforcing immigration violations. How does that apply with the law?

Speaker 2: Yeah. So, I think the states will have very, very strong arguments that they don't need to cooperate. They can obstruct, but they don't need to cooperate and help. So, a lot of very strong legal arguments, but they also have very strong policy arguments. One of the things that we hear from police all the time is, look, we can't put our force out there spending time to try and find immigration violations when we're looking to solve murders and robberies and rapes.

Speaker 1: And now we know that the administration has already shut down the CBP1 app and also canceled people who were expecting to have these asylum hearings before entering the United States. President Trump has said he's reinstating his stay in Mexico policy in his first term. How might that impact what we're seeing happening on the border?

Speaker 2: Yeah. So, basically, he has shut down the asylum process in the United States. You know, we said—and you and I have talked about this—we said after World War II that we would never send people back to danger without at least screening them. There is no asylum at the U.S. border now. No matter how much danger you're in, whether you're in for religious persecution, being threatened for religious persecution, political speech persecution, you're in grave danger.

Speaker 1: Immigration Rights Attorney Lee Gillert, we thank you so much for your time and insight.

Speaker 2: Appreciate it. Thanks for having me back.