Former Democratic Missouri Sen. Claire McCaskill said Thursday on MSNBC’s “Deadline: White House” that certain deportation methods could cripple higher education and threaten the United States’ “peace and prosperity.”
Over the weekend, President Donald Trump ramped up his administration’s crackdown on illegal migrants, invoking the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 against the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua and making suspected members subject to immediate arrest and removal. While discussing a New York Times report alleging that administration officials believe federal agents could enter suspected gang members’ homes without a warrant under the act, MSNBC’s Alicia Menendez questioned McCaskill on Trump’s use of power.
“Well, it’s going to be interesting to see how the American public, especially Republicans, who have been so worried. I mean, I’m in a state that’s pretty red, Alicia. What you hear when you go out to the red parts of my state, which I did for many, many years and listening to people complaining about me, is the heavy hand of government,” McCaskill said.
“They don’t want government in their lives. They don’t want government on their property. They don’t want government to have anything to do with being able to impair their ability to own property or own guns,” McCaskill added. “Here we’ve got a government who’s now saying they can walk in a house without a warrant. That’s pretty bold. By the way, let’s mention also the impact this is going to have on higher education.”
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Since invoking the wartime act, Trump’s Department of Justice and U.S. District Judge James E. Boasberg have gone back and forth in court over a temporary halt on Trump’s deportations. On Saturday, over 200 suspected gang-affiliated migrants were deported to El Salvador. While Boasberg issued a temporary halt, his final written order did not specify that planes already in the air should be turned back, resulting in three planes full of migrants that had left.
The NYT recently reported that sources familiar with internal discussions claimed officials discovered a no-warrant option. The outlet, though, said it was uncertain whether the Trump administration will actually use it.
McCaskill went on to say how Americans “need to understand” that one of the reasons the U.S. is “the most powerful and wealthy country” is due to the “higher education system” and attracting the “best minds” to it from across the globe.
“We have basically protection around higher education so that great minds can make great discoveries and find great progress and prosperity,” McCaskill said. “We are sending a message to the rest of the world, ‘Don’t come here. Don’t come here. If you’re from a foreign country, we don’t want you involved in our higher education. We don’t want your mind. We certainly don’t want you in our country.’”
“That is going to have a dramatic impact on peace and prosperity in this country for every American. It will happen over the next several decades if this doesn’t get reversed,” McCaskill added.
Editor’s note: This story has been updated to reflect that former Sen. Claire McCaskill represented Missouri.
(Featured Image Media Credit: Screenshot/MSNBC/”Deadline: White House”)
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