It is time for the President to do everything in his power to free Kilmar Abrego Garcia and cease the kidnappings and illegal incarcerations of migrants in El Salvador.

Our rights are supposed to be inalienable. They are meant to protect us from government overreach and oppression. Your response to this truth may very well be, “This man is not an American and he is a criminal.” I cannot argue with that stance — but the man himself is not the reason for my concern.

If he is guilty of a crime, convict him. If he is a violent gang member, punish him to the full extent of our laws.

But what if he is not?

This is why due process exists: So that anyone lucky enough to find themselves within the borders of the United States of America will be provided the opportunity to protect themselves from false accusations and wrongful convictions. If due process did not exist, the President of the United States — whether that be Donald J. Trump or whomever comes next — would possess the unilateral authority to imprison anyone, citizen or noncitizen, because (and this is important) the Constitution does not distinguish between the right to due process for citizens and the right to due process for non-citizens. From the 14th Amendment: “…nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”

The important word being, of course, “person.” Not “citizen.” The interpretation of the Constitution and our laws is left to the courts, which at the highest level has ordered the administration to facilitate the return of Mr. Garcia. So far, the president and his team have obfuscated and intentionally misinterpreted that order.

So, we have to defend ourselves and our Constitutional rights.

I understand the desire to firm up our borders. I understand that the “woke” culture wars have gone too far. I understand that the Upper Peninsula is and always has been a staunchly conservative district. However, we should not be willing to sacrifice our basic freedoms to “win” in the political arena. The Constitution matters, and to deny a single person their rights under the Constitution is a slippery slope toward having your rights denied to you. Providing every illegal migrant their day in court is going to take a long time, but when the alternative is the denial of liberty, we should choose inefficiency every time.

It can be difficult to take a moral stand, but America needs to do just that, right now. Now is the time to protect the inalienable rights that have been guaranteed to us and to all of our brothers and sisters. These rights are exactly what has made The United States of America a great place to live, and it would be a shame to lose them now.

From Benjamin Franklin, and carved into the Statue of Liberty:

“Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.”