OK. So, for example, Sven has been in the US for 3 years. He came on a tourist visa but just decided to stay and nobody came to look for him. One day, as he was hanging out on the couch with his buddies playing Call of Duty the police bust in the door and detain everyone as suspects in a drug and human smuggling operation. The cop find 4kg of fentanyl, 16 firearms (4 of which have the serial numbers scratched off), 3 twelve year old girls chained in the basement and a severed hand stashed in the closet. Sven claims to not have any idea who any of the people in the house were and says he's claiming asylum from wherever he's from because he's scared that he'll be prosecuted if he's sent back. The people he was hanging out with were all known members of an international terrorism organization designated as "Alien Enemies" of the US and Sven was found wearing clothing associated with that organization. Furthermore, a third party source, when queried on the matter, relates that he knows Sven to be a member of a different clique in that terrorist organization. Sven is first sent to an immigration court where his asylum claim is denied. He appeals that decision and the claim is denied again.
Based on that scenario, is the US required to charge Sven with a crime, provide him with counsel, allow him to appeal any decision the court makes and extend his residency for the 30-50 years that the appeal process might take or can they just deport him back to his home country and let them deal with him?
The government does not have to charge Sven with a crime before deporting Sven. The government can decide to deport him immediately. However, even if the government deems it necessary to deport Sven, Sven is still
entitled to notice, access to counsel (but government does not have to pay), and
opportunity to be heard (a hearing before an immigration judge).
If Sven is determined to be a terrorist, the government can deport him as above, but the same procedures must be used. Sven is still entitled to
notice,
access to counsel, and
opportunity to be heard.
If Sven is determined to not be a citizen of the U.S. during wartime, and is a national of the government we are at war with, and the President invokes the AEA, then Sven can more easily and quickly be deported. And what makes it easier for the government to do this is that it gains for itself the power to make the determination that Sven is dangerous. However, minimal due process safeguards are still required. Sven would not be entitled to an immigration trial, but Sven would still be entitled to notice, and opportunity to be heard. Sven can still appeal the decision to the Court through a habeas petition.
In the cases before the court, the Trump administration has given none of these people notice, access to counsel, and an opportunity to be heard. They are just picking them up of the street, putting them on a plane, and condemning them to prison in a brutal, foreign prison for the rest of your life. That is wrong. That is illegal. That violates our Constitution.
Furthermore, the AEA does not give the President the power to make shit up. The mere fact that Trump says we are in a state of war against a terrorist group does not make that true. It must be objectively true. Trump can't just pretend that a state of war exists. That doesn't make any logical sense. A state of war has to actually exist. Trump cannot pretend a state of war exists when one does not. The Court does not have to agree with Trump's delusions.
And the idea that we are in a state of war with a criminal organization (a non-state organization), and we then label them terrorist group in order to justify using AEA does not make logical sense. It is all a bunch of bullshit intended to give Trump powers he does not have. What the Trump administration is doing is unlawful in the extreme. He is literally trying to make himself a dictator, above the rule of law. Hell, he's trying to make himself above objective reality by asserting things that have no factual basis whatsoever.