President Donald Trump and his administration are continuing their crackdown against illegal immigration, despite the hurdles presented by left-wing activists and restrictive court rulings. Over the weekend, the president ordered U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem to impose various sanctions against attorneys and law firms which use unethical means to manipulate immigration courts.

In his memo to Bondi and Noem, the president wrote, “Lawyers and law firms that engage in actions that violate the laws of the United States or rules governing attorney conduct must be efficiently and effectively held accountable. Accountability is especially important when misconduct by lawyers and law firms threatens our national security, homeland security, public safety, or election integrity.” Pointing to the pervasive corruption plaguing immigration courts, he continued:

“The immigration system — where rampant fraud and meritless claims have supplanted the constitutional and lawful bases upon which the President exercises core powers under Article II of the United States Constitution — is likewise replete with examples of unscrupulous behavior by attorneys and law firms. For instance, the immigration bar, and powerful Big Law pro bono practices, frequently coach clients to conceal their past or lie about their circumstances when asserting their asylum claims, all in an attempt to circumvent immigration policies enacted to protect our national security and deceive the immigration authorities and courts into granting them undeserved relief. Gathering the necessary information to refute these fraudulent claims imposes an enormous burden on the Federal Government. And this fraud in turn undermines the integrity of our immigration laws and the legal profession more broadly — to say nothing of the undeniable, tragic consequences of the resulting mass illegal immigration, whether in terms of heinous crimes against innocent victims like Laken Riley, Jocelyn Nungaray, or Rachel Morin, or the enormous drain on taxpayer resources intended for Americans.”

The president wrote, “To address these concerns, I hereby direct the Attorney General to seek sanctions against attorneys and law firms who engage in frivolous, unreasonable, and vexatious litigation against the United States or in matters before executive departments and agencies of the United States.” He also demanded that Bondi and the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ):

“take all appropriate action to refer for disciplinary action any attorney whose conduct in Federal court or before any component of the Federal Government appears to violate professional conduct rules, including rules governing meritorious claims and contentions, and particularly in cases that implicate national security, homeland security, public safety, or election integrity. In complying with this directive, the Attorney General shall consider the ethical duties that law partners have when supervising junior attorneys, including imputing the ethical misconduct of junior attorneys to partners or the law firm when appropriate.”

Examples of punitive measures the president named include revoking security clearances held by attorneys or cancelling government contracts with individual attorneys or law firms. The president also instructed Bondi to review litigation against the federal government over the last eight years and identify instances of “misconduct that may warrant additional action, such as filing frivolous litigation or engaging in fraudulent practices…” He concluded, “Law firms and individual attorneys have a great power, and obligation, to serve the rule of law, justice, and order. The Attorney General, alongside the Counsel to the President, shall report to the President periodically on improvements by firms to capture this hopeful vision.”

The president’s order to the attorney general and Homeland Security secretary comes as numerous federal courts have restricted the Trump administration’s executive actions, including efforts to deport known criminals and members of foreign terrorist organizations. In a recent controversial move, U.S. District Court Judge James Boasberg demanded that the Trump administration halt the deportation of members of the Tren de Aragua (TdA) gang, which has been formally classified as a foreign terrorist organization, and ordered that planes deporting at least 250 TdA members be returned to the U.S. Boasberg’s court order prompted calls for impeachment from the president and even a rare public comment from U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts.

Notably, Boasberg’s court order blocked the president from invoking the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, a law which allows the president to forcibly remove noncitizens from enemy countries during times of war or invasion. While some have claimed that use of the over-200-year-old law violates the due process of illegal immigrants, White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, Trump’s top immigration advisor, has vocally defended the president’s use of the Alien Enemies Act, as have other administration officials.

In an interview Sunday, border czar and former head of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Tom Homan rejected claims that the Trump administration is violating the law and insisted that use of the Alien Enemies Act is just “using the laws on the books. We’re not making this up.” When questioned about the “due process” afforded to deported TDA members, Homan angrily pointed to the violence committed by TdA and other illegal immigrants. “Where is Laken Riley’s due process? Where are all these young women killed and raped by members of the TdA? Where was their due process? The young woman on the subway, where is her due process?” he asked. He continued, “The bottom line is, that plane was full of people designated as terrorists, number one. Number two, every Venezuelan migrant on that flight was a TdA member based on numerous criminal investigations, on intelligence reports, and a lot of work by ICE officers.” The border czar added, “They were given due process according to the laws on the books.”

National Security Adviser Mike Waltz also defended the Trump administration’s use of the Alien Enemies Act on Sunday. “President Trump has determined that this group is acting as a terrorist organization. It is terrorizing our communities through attacks, torture, rape and the most awful of situations for those communities, number one,” Waltz stated.

He continued, “Number two, the Alien [Enemies] Act fully applies because we have also determined that this group is acting as a proxy of the [Venezuelan president Nicolas] Maduro regime. TDA is acting as a proxy of the Maduro regime. This is how the Alien [Enemies] Act applies. And we cannot have district judges interfering with the commander in chief’s actions to take care of — in the way he deems necessary — a terrorist organization.”

The president’s National Security Adviser accused Maduro, whom the first Trump administration labelled a dictator, of “deliberately emptying his prisons in a proxy manner to influence and attack the United States,” adding, “President Trump is taking decisive action to rid our communities of these gangs that are operating in a paramilitary fashion…”

Some, however, have anticipated that courts may require the use of due process even in cases involving TdA and other foreign terrorist organizations. Senator Rand Paul (R-Ky.) on Sunday explained, “There are some big legal questions here. On the one hand, The Bill of Rights applies to everyone, to persons. The Bill of Rights doesn’t specifically designate citizens. It’s anyone in the United States, The Bill of Rights applies to.” He continued, “On the other end, The Alien and Enemies act says you don’t get much process. The president can declare that you are somehow a problem for foreign policy and opposed to our foreign policy you can be deported.”

“Ultimately, this goes to the court,” the senator admitted, adding, “I think the courts will rule there has to be [due] process.” He continued, “I think there’s going to be a process afforded by the courts for representation before you are deported in most cases. I don’t know about the ones under the Alien Enemies Act. I’m not sure anybody knows that.” Paul predicted, “I think it goes to the Supreme Court and there are arguments to be made on both sides.”