Welcome to Immigration Law. It's a Whole Different World.

on Mar 20, 2025

SAN DIEGO -- The topic of immigration law is in the news a lot lately as a result of President Donald Trump's immigration enforcement blitz.

With immigration, as with life in general, it's good to be aware of what you know but also what you don't know.

I'm an expert on the immigration debate. At least that's what people tell me when I'm invited to speak to a college, conference or corporation. Once there, I can explain how politicians in both parties exploit the immigration issue for their benefit.

I suspect the bestowing of the title "expert" has something to do with the fact that I've studied, written and spoken about immigration at venues in the United States and abroad for more than 35 years.

However, I'm not an expert on immigration law. Because I'm not an immigration lawyer. But, in the last three and a half decades, I have met and interviewed a couple dozen of them. I can't speak for the barristers, but I listen real good when they speak to me.

They tell me to forget everything I think I know -- from watching legal dramas on television -- about how jurisprudence works. Immigration law is a different ballgame.

Consider the story of Mahmoud Khalil, and the legal troubles the Syrian-born, pro-Palestinian activist brought upon himself through bad decisions, brazen behavior and disrespectful conduct. Even though he is a legal permanent resident with a green card, Khalil was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement because last year the 30-year-old former Columbia University graduate student led pro-Hamas/anti-Israel protests at the Ivy League school that turned violent. The activist now faces possible deportation under an executive order signed by President Trump that aims to deport international students who participated in university protests against Israel's war with Hamas.

If you're anti-America, anti-Israel or anti-Trump, none of this sits well with you. On social media, people demand to know: What are the charges? What crime did Khalil commit? Where is the due process?

These folks have watched too much TV. They're taking a case against a noncitizen centered on immigration law and trying to shoehorn it into what they've seen happen in the criminal arena.

My wife enjoys a good legal drama as much as the next person. But, since she was born in Guadalajara and came to the United States legally as a child along with her mother and sisters, she is crystal clear about what rights green card holders have and don't have. She got her green card at 12. She recalls that, at the time, she was told by immigration officials that she was a guest in this country, and so she had to obey the rules -- or the green card could be revoked. Today, she is a U.S. citizen, and so she has a whole new set of rights that she didn't have when she was merely a legal permanent resident.

CNN Senior Legal Analyst Elie Honig -- a graduate of Harvard Law School and former assistant U.S. attorney -- explained this during a recent appearance on Michael Smerconish's Sirius/XM radio show.

"There's a very important distinction to keep in mind with all these immigration controversies," Honig said. "This is an entirely different legal context than the criminal law. We are so used to the criminal process. When you're talking about a criminal case, it is mostly all out there. There's an indictment. It tells you exactly what the allegation is. There's discovery. You have to turn over all your evidence. We usually see that. There is an open and public trial. There are well-established burdens of proof."

"The laws around immigration are totally different," Honig said. "You don't have indictments. You don't even have to, in many cases, say or prove what you think they've done wrong. Immigration procedures happen much more under cover of darkness, with much less transparency, much less -- and in some cases no -- due process. And with much more unilateral power vested in the president."

When Bill Clinton, Barack Obama and Joe Biden were in the White House, liberals and Trump haters didn't seem to have a problem with aggressive deportation policies. Apparently, for those on the left, the concept of "much more unilateral power vested in the president" is not so frightening when the president is a Democrat.

I wonder if the millions of people who got deported during Democratic administrations --including some with green cards -- feel the same way.

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To find out more about Ruben Navarrette and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.