It was once said that possession is nine-tenths of the law, an acknowledgement that the possessor of property generally has the advantage in keeping it. This principle has been taken to absurd extremes in some squatter cases, where people invade homes and then demand the right to stay pending long legal challenges. Today, under both our housing and immigration laws, mere occupation often appears to be nine-tenths of our laws.
Obviously, unlawful immigrants are not the same as squatters. Some of these migrants have legitimate asylum and other claims. We have to separate those meritorious cases from the vast majority with no cognizable claims. Yet, our legal system is failing the public by allowing unlawful immigrants with no meritorious claims to game the system for years and then simply vanish into the nation.
In courtrooms across the country, the nation seems trapped in a type of Squatter Syndrome, a macro version of the housing cases. The slowness of the removal process is being used to keep millions in the country indefinitely. It may prove to be President Joe Biden’s most lasting legacy, a de facto residency by simply overwhelming the system by the sheer number of unlawful entries.
For years, residents in some major cities have expressed frustration as officials threw up their hands after their homes were occupied by squatters. Even though the owners could show officers that the squatters are home invaders (including their own family pictures on the walls), they are often told to seek other housing to let the courts sort it out. That can take months or even years and the squatters play out the litigation (often with the help of some public interest groups) – only to move on to another home when they run out of appeals.
There is a sense of the same helplessness in dealing with unlawful immigration. After over eight million unlawful immigrants entered the country under Biden, Democrats are again shrugging and saying that these immigrants must be allowed to remain for years as they raise asylum and other claims that are overwhelmingly rejected.
Most unlawful immigrants immediately seek out border agents after being led across the border by coyotes and gang members. They know that, upon arrest, they would be given “notices to appear” that are years in the future and then released.
They often come across the border with printed instructions on claiming asylum.
It may be the greatest political scam ever pulled on the American people. The polls show that an overwhelming percentage of the public favors the deportation of aliens with criminal records and roughly half support mass deportations of those here unlawfully. According to a new Associated Press-NORC poll, roughly half of the country still approves of Trump’s handling of immigration.
Knowing that the public opposes such unlawful entries, politicians mouth their concerns about open borders while doing nothing to seek any change that might meaningfully increase removals.
For years, the Biden Administration claimed that it could not close the Southern border without immigration reform, including the new pathways to citizenship. Donald Trump then effectively shut down the border in a matter of weeks with the same authority that Biden had for four years. Entries are down a breathtaking 97 percent under Trump.
The record conclusively shows that Biden and the Democrats could have closed the border at any time but chose to keep it open despite daily images of waves of migrants entering the country. These same politicians knew that, once in the country, it would be practically impossible to remove a significant number of these individuals due to a court system that takes years actually to deport an individual. They become de facto resident aliens and Democrats then insist that the length of their time in the country warrants a pathway to citizenship.
After he came into office, Biden fueled this migration by negating the immigration orders of the Trump Administration, including stopping the successful Remain in Mexico policy. (It was later reinstated after legal challenges.) The Administration also resisted every major effort of border states to fill the vacuum left by lax federal enforcement, even cutting state-constructed barriers along the border.
The result was a deluge of unlawful crossings. Some border agents complained that they felt like little more than travel agents asking immigrants where they would like to go on public expense.
Trump was elected to increase deportations and he has sought to use every possible means to do so. He has met opposition at every turn from the Democrats and the courts. I have criticized the Administration in some of these cases. However, Trump is right that we need to create faster and final avenues for removal for the millions who entered during the Biden Administration.
The Congress has sought to expedite removals without such prolonged litigation.
After his inauguration, President Trump issued an executive order titled “Border Security and Immigration Enforcement Improvements” that ordered the increased use of “expedited removals” under a 1996 law. Prior administrations extended this law to include any apprehended person within 100 miles of the land border who cannot prove they were legally admitted to the country or have been present in the country continuously for more than 14 days.
The Trump Administration has expanded that law to anyone who cannot prove continuous presence for two years. Their removals are generally unreviewable by an immigration judge and dramatically limit judicial relief under asylum claims. These removals also come with a five-year ban on reentry or even a lifetime ban if the individual made false claims to immigration officers.
This same expedited process can be used for those who entered the country legally but overstayed their visa or who have been convicted of certain crimes.
Some 44 percent of removals were accomplished under expedited removal designations by circumventing the standard immigration hearing process. President Obama, who was called by critics “the Deporter in Chief,” expanded the use of this process.
The Trump Administration is also using the administrative removal process of anyone who is not a permanent resident who has been convicted of aggravated felonies. Such offenses actually go beyond such felonies as murder, sexual assault, and firearms offenses. They can include nonviolent misdemeanors as failure to appear in court, burglary, and document fraud.
The benefit of this process is that it does not matter how long the individual has been in the country. Only permanent residents under this system have the right to go before an immigration judge. However, there are still appeals allowed under the system. That is why more immigration judges are needed.
The Administration is also using a process called reinstatement of removal, which applies to anyone who has illegally reentered the United States. Many of these repeat offenders immediately claim asylum. While they are not entitled to an immigration hearing, they can appeal the reinstatement.
The public deserves a better system that can handle a crisis of millions of unlawful immigrants to avoid more expedited reviews and removals. Otherwise, we become a type of squatter nation where our inefficient legal system is being used to make a mockery of our laws.
Jonathan Turley is the Shapiro professor of public interest law at George Washington University and the author of “The Indispensable Right: Free Speech in an Age of Rage
I think you premise is wrong. The fair housing act forbids land!odds from even asking Immigration
status. indeed the HUD circular portends that a way not to be removed is to claim a HUD case . . . for being asked about statys. So you are saying illegals are just moving in as squatters? Obviously such squatters should be removed before paying miggrants. Indeed this is the first I hear d about this – the corollary must be any illegal paying rent is crookdd. Owners lose either way? Either a ‘sweater’ takes it or the govt does by claiming a betting if you collect rent? There are squatters fore sure = govt!
Open fire UNTIL it stops, that is all.
As a person the lives in the NYC area, I have seen first hand the insanity it has become to try and remove an illegal squatter. Now when you add the time it takes and the money alone, it just makes one shake their head. The tragedy is not that the property is being illegally squatted upon, but even when the landlord tries to remove them, they are prevented. Some have been arrested! On top of that, the property taxes must be paid, the property maintained, and god forbid anyone is injured while they illegally occupy the property. There is something truly wrong with the idea of squatting illegal immigrants have more rights than the legal owner.
Simple solutions can be found and understood by reading Frederick Bastiat and Alexis de Toqueville. “Progressives” don’t read, apparently.
As a lay person, I have long wondered what due process illegal immigrants are entitled to. If I snuck into Japan and tried to take advantage of public benefits to live there, I would promptly be arrested, sent to an immigration detention center, where I could be held indefinitely without a court order. There I’d stay until deported.
If all it takes to get an immigration court case, is to appear at the border, then billions of people could conceivably swarm the border, and crash the court system. In just a few short years, 10 million illegal immigrants gained access to our country under President Biden’s open border policies. Imagine if that trajectory had persisted.
As someone with no legal background, I thought that anyone caught illegally in the country would just get deported. The right to a case in immigration court would be for asylum cases, those who protested the denial of their visa getting renewed, and those protesting the denial of a family member being approved for chain migration. I did not realize that everyone who snuck across the border before Biden, and who just presented themselves to BP concierge during Biden’s presidency, would be entitled to have their case heard in court. I didn’t know until the past decade that illegal immigrants were being advised how to word a fraudulent asylum case.
Asylum may be granted to those who fear persecution in their home country based on race, religion, nationality, social group, or politics, pending a background check. Now, millions of people who just want the opportunities in America claim asylum, meeting none of those conditions. “Economic refugees” do not quality for asylum, any more than American poor would qualify for asylum in Sweden or Japan.
The only suggestion I have heard that would slow false asylum claims is the requirement to stay in a safe country while the claim is processed.
As it stands, Democrats claim they oppose open borders, but do everything in their power to fight every single deportation. It would take a lifetime to get 10 million people through the court system. By the time a case is heard, the argument shifts to how inhumane it is to deport a migrant who has lived in the country so long.
The tsunami of illegal migration has strained support infrastructure to the breaking point. It is unethical for American poor and legal residents to be unable to find affordable housing, because it is allocated to millions of unlawful migrants who broke the law to come here.
Home invasion is a felony and and a police matter handled in criminal courts. What kind of lawyer, let alone a law professor, doesn’t know that?
Eviction is a highly accelerated proceeding that seldom, if ever, takes years. Again, what legal professional isn’t aware of that?
Of course, adverse possession or suits to quiet title are different matters – especially when the bank might have problems proving it’s ownership. Of course, the banks could change the law if enough pet media and law professors mislead the public.
Since Saint Kilmar failed to take hold, the Maryland Man should be replaced by NYC Man? Here is a newest candidate:
https://www.dhs.gov/news/2025/05/01/ice-lodges-detainers-against-violent-aliens-over-corpse-rape-shooting-spree
Expected that some nations opened insane asylums and prisons and transported them via coyote gangs to the border. Sure…
Be careful when going out, cover up, never be alone and stay inside at night. Welcome
If illegals have committed serious crimes, their country of origin won’t want them back.
Give them a choice: either leave the USA or get sent to a prison in Northern Alaska – and if they refuse, shoot them.
Here’s a more humane idea —- put them on one of Musk’s or Bezos’s rockets and ship them off into space, perhaps a penal colony on the moon, or Mars?
There are no lunar penal colonies. Your basement will do, next to you k!ddie p0rn stack.
Lunar penal colonies has been on the docket for years, just never funded.
Musk could fund it all by himself.
Said like a true republican.
Ummm no
You must be in jest. Squatters? There is one thing about the law giving you an affirmative duty to make sure your place is not squated! Totally another that HUD fair housing act makes you rent to everyone interested! No immigration or national origin questions can be asked! Indeed if a landlord asks the tenant can have their otherwise removal delayed because they have a fair housing case on discrimnation! You are worried about squatters – I am worried HUD making me rent my place to illegals – trying to take it if I follow the law! Squatters my arsenal end! If Georgetown professors are worried about squatters – they leap trigger mom and pop americans! Kiss my ass…squaters…ask Americans fixing on being a better a for fha renting!
Why does our !aw make us house these illebals? We don’t want shanty towns so we spread them out! HUD is the root! Without HUD and orr this wouldn’t be! Or that keeps then not raised America ! Puts them up on our dime then reports them at 18 bases on their parents who didn’t raise them very loose association s! Meanwhile its billions no tri!lions!
Drunkposting ^^^ maybe just frontier gibberish.
Squaters, I like that word squaters. Do the squaters eat taters?
#. A new illness is identified- Squatter Syndrome and professor Turley has drawn out the similarities between home invasion and nation invasion. This allows a new cultural group identification. Neither group identifies with the American culture and is without cultural normatives that allows assimilation.
Examine Abrego Garcias Squatter syndrome cultural identity. Gang member, Ms 13, illegal entry into nation, demands normative American laws from the invaded nation, trafficking interstate, domestic violence with death threats. This is within the new cultural normative of Squatter Syndrome. It’s allowable to profile within sociology.
There are millions with Squatter Syndrome. Never has anyone heard a reason the American people or from the squatter that abrego garcia would be invited into the nation when assimilation into American normatives is impossible.
It remains an amazing mystery that groups of people can be without morals, ethics, or basic intelligence to deman such form any nation.
Professor Turley has drawn an excellent comparison in similarities. The courts are slow is an incorrect conclusion. It classifies as a national security disaster and the army reserves can be called to active duty. …with differential pay, FELICIANO v. DOT.
Like it or not…
Demand , from ^^^^
It’s so bad people are stunned into disbelief. Take the money spent on this nightmare including van hollens junket to El salvador and house the American homeless. Start with the old, infirm and ill.
Interesting work, professor.
#. Mr. Hur did a great job of cover for Joe. A poor memory? He should be interrogated for days until he recalls by whom were the open borders given.
End of sentence. Repeat…
Jonathan: This country has historically welcomed immigrants. We welcomed Albert Einstein who fled Nazi Germany. After Fidel’s revolution we welcomed Cubans and gave them protected status as long as they had one foot on FL’s shore. Marco Rubio is the son of those Cuban immigrants. We also welcomed thousands of South Vietnamese after we lost the Vietnam War. And we even welcomed Haitians fleeing extreme violence and allowed them to take open positions at factories in Springfield, Ohio. We have always tried to protect those seeking asylum from political violence, natural disasters or famine. Not under the regime of DJT 2.0.
Now DJT is at war with immigrants, the law and the Constitution. He kidnapped over 200 hundred Venezuelans and flew them to a concentration camp in El Salvador without giving them a due process hearing to which they were entitled. Without any evidence DJT claims all those rounded up are members of Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan gang and all are “stone cold killers”. Some may be but even the worst of the worst are entitled to a hearing before a judge under our system of laws.
But you seem to think that our asylum system, TPS and due process protections for immigrants is the “greatest political scam ever pulled on the American people”. Ironically, it was George HW Bush who created TPS when he signed the Immigration Act of 1990 which granted that status to immigrants facing persecution or wars in designated countries and gave them a path to citizenship. During his first term DJT tried to get rid of TPS but he failed because only Congress can do that. The problem is not TPS but the DJT regime’s deliberate flouting of immigration law and the Constitution. Had DJT simply given everyone he wanted to deport with a hearing before an immigration judge we wouldn’t be having this discussion. DJT didn’t want to do that because he wanted to show he was acting “tough” on immigration as soon as he took office. DJT was in a hurry so he violated the law. That is the “political scam” you should be discussing!
“Historically,” the American Founders established a nation and prescribed its immigration requirements, which were never legally abrogated.
They are posted below for your perusal and edification.
_____________________________________________________________
Naturalization Acts of 1790, 1795, 1798, and 1802 (four iterations for maximal clarity)
United States Congress, “An act to establish an uniform Rule of Naturalization,” March 26, 1790
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America, in Congress assembled, That any Alien being a free white person, who shall have resided within the limits and under the jurisdiction of the United States for the term of two years, may be admitted to become a citizen thereof….
We’re not in Kansas anymore, Dorothy
“This country has historically welcomed immigrants.”
False, throughout our history we have had a complex relationship with immigration.
We are a nation of immigrants. At times the door has been wide open – to white northern europeans who were not from ireland of scotland.
The Won Kim Ark case which will soon be something everyone has an opinion about i specifically because the US has through our entire history been hostile to chinese immigrants. It is only since the 60’s that the Chinese were free to live wherever they pleased in the US.
So NO the US has not historically welcomed immigrants. We have had somrthing approximating open boarders – though never the lawless nonsense of the Biden administration. When the border was open the widest, you still had to arrive at a port of entry, where your health and documents where check and where you still might be uarantined or denied entry for any of a number of reasons, and if you were chinese ? There were very brief windows in which you could get in. Much of the time while europeans passed easily through Ellis Island – Chinese were detained for years at angle island or returned to china.
There is only one universal theme to US immigration. And that is that for much of our history, We through our elected representatives in congress decided who could immigrate to the US and who could not.
At different times we had different views of who it was from the $hithole countries pof that moment in time would not be allowed in – though almost universally no chinese allowed.
TO REPEAT The THEME of US immigration is WE DECIDE.
You can like or dislike what we decide, you are free to participate in that decision.
But always though we did a better or worse job of it – our govenrment tried to follow our immigration laws.
Until Joe Biden and the woke idiots that came to power with him.
Those left wing nuts like you think Emma Lazarus’s New Colossus actually IS US immigration law.
It is not and never has been.
Historically the US has been more welcoming than anywhere else in the world. We have by far the most diverse population of anywhere in the world, this is a nation of immigrants built by immigrants
But we have ALWAYS had a strong anti-immigrant backlash. That is not new.
And we have ALWAYS – until recently encapsulated our views as a people on immigration into our laws and then tried to actually follow those laws.
UNTIL the woke left.
Had you tried to increase the number of legal immigrants coming into this country – you would have had my support and that of many many others.
But you did NOT work as americans do – to CHANGE THE LAW. You worked to subvert it.
And you created the backlash that you are seeing today.
The american people want ZERO illegal immigration – that is NOT new. They have Always wanted ZERO illegal immigration.
At various times we have allowed more or less illegal immigration. WE have chosen, and we have made those choices into our law.
If you do not like that CHANGE THE LAW.
another drunken rant ..
Dennis – TPS was created by congress in 1990 – that is the only thing you got right.
it allows the US attorney general to TEMPORARILY allow immigrants from a country with a TEMPORARY stability problem.
It is NOT a path to citizenship – it has NEVER been a path to citizenship, The expectation is that every single person ever granted TPS status will return to their home country.
It was also NEVER intended to be a way to give people who entered illegally a right to be here.
Immigrants from places with wars or similar disruptions were expected to be given TPS status and THEN enter legally.
Further it is a grant of power to the EXECUTIVE – Congress does not decide who gets TPS status. The president does,
and the president can grant or revoke TPS status as they please.
Just as Biden gave by far tghe largest number of TPS grants ever – Trump has chose to rescind those.
Which he can do – TPS is TEMPORARY and it is a power of the EXECUTIVE – not the courts.
TPS is NOT a right. A grant of TPS can not be challenged in court. A revocation of TPS can not be challenged in court.
TPS comes with almost no due process rights at all.
Yep, bunches of laws passed since the fourteenth. DJT suggestion isn’t written so very well.
I’ve reached my soul’s limit of so many without good faith . The height, breadth and width my soul can reach.
Abrego garcia, do you have a passport and visa? No. He is deported to El salvador. Do the paperwork. He is not sentenced to prison by the US but is temporarily held. Forward papers to Salvadoran authorities. Transport Mr. Garcia to the embassy for final approval.
Dennis – the rants of the left regarding Due process are a Hoax.
US Immigration law specifies extremely limited due process to deport someone.
Why ? Because they are here illegally and they are being sent back HOME.
If you are accused of murder you will get significant due process before you are imprisoned for life or executed.
If you run a stop sign – you will get very little.
Illegal aliens are entitled to less due process than a traffic violation.
Why ? because nothing is being taken from you that is yours.
No rights are being violated.
If you run a stop sign – the govenrment is going to take money from you that is yours.
If you are being deported as an illegal alein the govenrment is not taking anything from you that is yours. You are being returned to your HOME – you do not even have to pay for the ticket.
What due process are you entitled to if no actual rights are being violated ?
So the claim that Illegal Aliens are being denied due process is a hoax.
The due process illegal aliens are entitled to is merely establishing that they are not here legally.
The standard of proof is low – because if government makes an error, you can go to a US embasy or consulate and request your passport and when you get it you can return.
We would all prefer no errors are made – but given that there are 10’s of millions of illegal aliens in the US – there will be occasional errors.
We have executed people who are innocent – whether you like it or not our justice system is not required to be perfect.
The famous phrase that better 10 guilty go free than one innocent is convicted does NOT say better that ALL guilty go free than one innocent is convicted.
It is estimated that about 2.5% of those in prison did not commit the crime they are accused of.
US prisons and jails hold about 2M people.
If we let EVERYONE go, we would still not have the detention capacity for 1/20th of those in the US illegally.
And that is what the left is counting on.
You have allowed 10-20M illegal aliens into the country in 4 years,
You do not give a crap about due process – J6 defendants did not get Due process.
Trump did not get due process as you rushed to get bogus convictions before the election.
Why should someone get the due process that an accuesed murdered gets – when nothing is being taken from them that is theirs, and they are getting a free ride HOME ?
Regardless, the objective is to slow the process down so that few illegal aliens are ever deported.
You do not want due process – your want those who are here illegally to remain – including the gang bangers, human trafficers, wife beaters, …
Shame on you.
This Due process nonsense by the left is a hoax.
As Turley has noted – US immigration law already specifies the amount of due process that illegal immigrants in various status’s get. It is NOT MUCH.
Regardless – those of you on the left do not want “due process” – what you want is to pull every trick in the book to avoid deporting.
Between 11 and 20M people entered the US illegally in the past 4 years.
Americans want them sent HOME – You can play games with due process all you want – but at most that buys them time.
EXCEPT that the federal government does not have the ability to hunt down 20M illegal immigrants and detain them prior to whatever due process YOU demand before deporting them
And that is your point – there are 10 to 20 times more illegal aliens in the US than people in jail or prison right now.
Give even 1/20th of those the same due process as a criminal trial and that would tie up every court and judge in the US for a decade. And that is exactly what you want.
You want the traffic violations to be treated like capitol cases
The due process afforded illegal aliens is specified in the law.
If you want more or less – change the law through congress.
The role of the courts is to apply the law and constitution as they are and to protect actual rights of citizens,
There is no right to be in the US if you are not a citizen.
The people to which you refer had something to give America also they were not part of a scam administration, that broke every law in the books to allow this country to be over run.
Excellent article. As an appellate lawyer, I am very concerned that the Democrat goal was to swamp the system on entries and then swamp the deportations system. I applaud all the efforts to short-circuit the system. The public and the Dems seems to want full Due Process to everyone. If I( were a judge, I think I would rule that if the person came into the country during the Biden Administration under an illegal policy to not enforce the law as written, then the Due Process is minimal, the least available. For more than two years, I have believed that, if elected, the Trump Administration should invite volunteers for temporary Immigration Judges. Take “semi” retired lawyers who are not looking for permanent jobs, AV lawyers and put them through a crash course on the immigration law as well as the administrative law judge law they need to know. Put some permanent Immigration Judges in to advise and assist. That would increase dramatically the number of cases that can be decided, the backlog, and the number of illegal aliens that can be deported.
Your lips to Roberts’ ears.
Trump might suspend habeas corpus.
AI Overview
The George W. Bush administration, particularly through the Military Commissions Act of 2006 (MCA), took steps that were perceived as infringing on the writ of habeas corpus, though the administration argued it did not suspend the writ. The MCA was designed to limit the ability of detainees at Guantanamo Bay to challenge their detention through habeas corpus.
Elaboration:
The MCA and Habeas Corpus:
The Military Commissions Act of 2006 aimed to create a legal framework for military tribunals to try detainees at Guantanamo Bay, including those who were not U.S. citizens. The Act included provisions that limited or restricted access to habeas corpus, which is a fundamental right that allows individuals to challenge the legality of their detention.
Boumediene v. Bush:
The Supreme Court case, Boumediene v. Bush, addressed the constitutionality of the MCA’s limitations on habeas corpus. The Court ultimately ruled that the MCA’s restrictions on habeas corpus were unconstitutional, finding that detainees had the right to have their petitions for habeas corpus heard in federal court.
Bush Administration’s Position:
The Bush administration argued that the MCA did not suspend the writ of habeas corpus, but rather it established a different legal framework for reviewing the legality of detention, as cited by Wikipedia.
Effect of the Ruling:
The Supreme Court’s ruling in Boumediene v. Bush had a significant impact, clarifying that detainees held at Guantanamo Bay had the right to access federal courts and challenge their detention through habeas corpus.
Generative AI is experimental.
A very conservative friend recommended a small stipend, maybe $5,000, for those willing to voluntarily return to their land if they entered the country during Biden’s administration. They were clearly drawn here by the government at the time (Biden), giving the impression that the undocumented could enter the country and stay, like it was the official process. The country bear’s a responsibility. Too bad it can’t be taken out of DNC saving.
That maybe after enforcing employment laws first. There is like 5-7 federal prosecutions of employers per year for employing illegal aliens. When financial crisis struck in 2008, most left on their own. Surprise.
Then there are free hotels, free healthcare, free food stamps, free cell phones, you name it.
I actually agree with this point. I don’t blame illegal immigrants for coming here when they were publicly invited to do so by President Joe Biden. Every sanctuary city, special benefit for illegal immigrants, like dedicated housing, and every Democrat politician who went on record claiming that coming to the US to live was a basic human right, invited people to pay thousands to dangerous cartels to be brought here, like it was a lawful alternative.
I wouldn’t bar illegal immigrants from applying to immigrate here lawfully, from their home countries, for this reason. Biden, and the Democrat Party, invited them here. It’s not their fault they took them up on the offer.
The only people I’d bar from reapplying, prior to the border stabilizing, would be those who illegally reentered after already being deported. They knew it was wrong.
This is really simple: zero immigration, no H1B, no F1, all cancelled until ALL illegalls are evicted.
BTW, squatters on my property will be given a warning and 60 seconds to leave before they are terminated, chipped, incinerated, and dispersed. No quarter, no discussion.
Where there’s a will, there’s a way.
Abortion and sequestration of carbon “burdens” following progressive principles under the Pro-Choice religion established in Democratic jurisdictions and liberal sects to mitigate climate change.
That works too, but I like my woodchipper
Shred/shove/shut up.