The right to due process, or access to a fair and legal trial, is guaranteed to all “persons” via in the 5th Amendment. Without due process, individuals can be charged and punished without an opportunity to defend themselves.

In March, the Trump administration used a declaration that members of a Venezuelan gang were “threatening an invasion or predatory incursion” as a catalyst to reinvoke the Alien Enemies Act of 1798. This wartime law allows Trump to arrest and deport individuals who are considered “hostile” to the nation without due process. After a multitude of lawsuits, the Supreme Court ruled that Trump had to give the Venezuelans proper notice and time to contest their deportation, but still left this law in place. There have been countless appeals following this contradictory decision, causing blocks and changes to those previously deported. Nonetheless, without the Supreme Court shutting it down, it has allowed Trump to target people he decides are “hostile” and overstep the American rights being argued over.

On March 15, Kilmar Armando Ábrego García was jailed and deported without trial, completely disregarding a court order that kept him from having to return to his country of origin. At the beginning of the year, immigrant graduate student Rümeysa Öztürk was picked up off the street by federal agents, carried to holding cells without notification to her legal team, and then detained for six weeks after pro-Palestinian writings. Leqaa Kordi was arrested for overstaying her visa and protesting at a pro-Palestine event. She has since been held by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for over 300 days and subjected to overnight transfers and automatic stays that override judges’ orders for interference.

After recent Chicago ICE raids, a federal judge had to order the release of hundreds of people from detention centers after it was found they were arrested in violation of a consent decree barring the arrest of migrants without a warrant. Nonetheless, 1,100 people arrested by ICE in the area may have already been unlawfully deported.

The Trump administration has made it a reality in which due process doesn’t apply to undocumented immigrants. However, as the Trump administration continues its crackdown, even citizens have been denied their constitutional rights. In July, American citizens George Retes and Andrea Velez were both arrested separately at traffic stops. Retes was jailed for three days without lawyer access, and Velez spent two nights in jail without access to a lawyer or water. They were stopped, profiled by ICE officers, and not given the right to identify themselves as citizens, leading to altercations and claims that these individuals obstructed and assaulted ICE officers. While these are only a few examples, this overstep of rights occurs every day to people across America.

Without access to due process, people in this country cannot prove who they are or what they’ve done, undocumented or not. If the Trump administration can use the “migrant crisis” as a vessel to bypass these rights, there’s no saying who can’t be arrested and taken away if his administration deems them a threat. To defend everyone’s rights, Americans must stand up for those being persecuted now, regardless of their immigration status. No matter who you are, without upholding constitutional rights, we are only at the mercy of those in power.