An Erosion of Rights, a Crisis of Trust

CONCORD, N.H. — The American legal system is facing significant challenges, with foundational rights increasingly at risk. For immigrants, these issues are a daily reality as the system becomes more unpredictable. Legal experts and advocates have identified a growing constitutional crisis, driven by aggressive executive actions, legislative gridlock, and declining judicial credibility.

Last month, the University of New Hampshire Franklin Pierce School of Law hosted a panel discussion, “Enforcement or Overreach? Immigration Regime Tests the Constitution,” moderated by Prof. Heather Ward.

Panelists included:

A common misconception is that undocumented immigrants lack rights. The Supreme Court has affirmed that undocumented individuals have constitutional protections, but the scope of these rights often varies by jurisdiction. As Prof. Pi noted, these rights are “the weakest at the borders.”

The current administration is expanding border enforcement into the interior, where undocumented individuals have historically had stronger protections.

“[They] are reaching inside the interior of the country, where on that spectrum, even people who are undocumented tended to have stronger protections historically,” Pi said.

Programs such as the 287(g) agreement allow local police to act as federal immigration agents. This creates a system where officers, often without specialized knowledge of immigration law, are encouraged to make arrests and engage in racial profiling. These changes have serious consequences. The established right of undocumented children to public education under Plyler v. Doe is being undermined.

“The practicality of it these days is the children become bait,” Escalante said. “So, a parent who is without documentation going to drop off or retrieve the child at public school becomes targeted.”

These enforcement tactics are often described as “creative” in bypassing legal and constitutional safeguards. Individuals may be arrested without a warrant, detained on suspicion, and transferred to distant facilities, limiting access to counsel and due process. The location of detention can significantly affect legal representation.

“If you are, for example, detained like at the Strafford County in Dover, New Hampshire, you will have significant access to lawyers,” Kim explained. “If you are being detained in [a more remote facility like] Berlin, New Hampshire, then the chance of you having a lawyer can be very minimal because no one” can easily get there.

This lack of transparency is a significant concern. During the Senate confirmation hearing in March for the new head of the Department of Homeland Security, questions were raised about the denial of legislative oversight.

“If you have members of Congress seeking to enter a facility in their own state, and then they’re met with either force, it makes a really big dent in the federal government’s case about why these facilities are needed,” Escalante said. “If they’re just going to be black sites where no one has oversight on them, we’re just as a citizenry supposed to believe what the federal government says is true.”

This erosion of trust also affects the U.S. Supreme Court.

“Seventy percent of Americans see the U.S. Supreme Court as a political body,” Pi said. “We expect them to rule based on precedent, and I think that is not what happens.”

As a result, landmark precedents are increasingly at risk. Congress remains gridlocked, resulting in failed legislation and leaving many in uncertainty.

Escalante, now a U.S. citizen, described ongoing concerns for his two younger brothers, both DACA recipients, whose status is again “being challenged and dragged into a level of uncertainty where they may lapse.” He criticized Congress for public support without meaningful action.

“[Congress] loves to hug and take photos with [the] DACA population, but when it comes down to protecting them, no such thing has materialized,” Escalante said.

Kim echoed this frustration: “Unfortunately, it just kind of gets stuck in this perpetual struggle for who is the person that’s going to take credit for this. And that ultimately works to the detriment of the communities that we’re trying to help.”

The executive branch often acts knowing that remedies for overreach are slow and limited. Individuals whose rights are violated must typically file complaints with the same agency responsible for the violation. Even court victories may offer little relief.

Kim described a client who was wrongly ordered deported. After a year and a half of legal proceedings, the outcome was only a new hearing, returning her to the starting point.

“The difficulty of immigration law is coming into reality because getting the mechanism to get that remedy is not guaranteed,” Kim said.

These developments have raised concerns about a potential constitutional crisis.

“What would make it a constitutional crisis is that the court would say to the executive branch, ‘What you’re doing is unconstitutional,’ and that the executive branch says, ‘Well, you know, we don’t care,’” Pi warned. “That’s sort of the scary thing.”

The current challenges to immigrant rights are a test of the nation’s commitment to the rule of law. When the government bypasses legal protections to target vulnerable populations, it sets a dangerous precedent. Addressing this requires a Congress willing to reclaim its authority, an executive branch committed to transparency, and a focus on practical solutions rather than political gain. The question is not whether a crisis is coming, but whether we have the collective will to address the one already present.

Marlena Fitzpatrick is a writer focused on Latino and Puerto Rican issues.

Editor’s Note: Escalante does freelance social media work for The Latino Newsletter. More about our editorial transparency policy here.

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Enhanced Security Checks: From Camilo Montoya-Galvez of CBS News, “The Trump administration is subjecting broad categories of immigrants applying for legal immigration benefits to enhanced security checks, and is pausing some cases while the changes are implemented, according to internal government documents obtained by CBS News.”

Julio Ricardo Varela edited and published this edition of The Latino Newsletter.

The Latino Newsletter welcomes opinion pieces in English and/or Spanish from community voices. Submission guidelines are here. The views expressed by outside opinion contributors do not necessarily reflect the editorial views of this outlet or its employees.