Did The U.S. Government Sign a Death Penalty Law For Illegal Immigrants?
On February 8, 2025, a TikTok user, @teawithcarson posted a video stating that the US government justice department released a memo reinstating the death penalty for federal crimes. a long list of crimes that warrants the death penalty was also shared and illegal immigration was added at the very end of the list.
The transcription of the one minute 30 seconds video reads: “It only took Hitler 60 days to rise to being a dictator after being elected. Donald Trump is on day 18 and just 2 days ago the Justice Department released a memo reinstating the death penalty for federal crimes. They had a long list of violent crimes that warrant the death penalty and at the very end they slipped in illegal immigration. Just last week, Donald Trump announced that Guantanamo Bay which has only previously held 1,000 prisoners will be repurposed to house 30,000 deported migrants, this week he has started deporting migrants to Guantanamo Bay but has yet to build a facility that can hold 30,000 deported migrants, instead they will be staying in tent camps on the island.”
“Genocide does not happen only through forceful execution of the people, it can also happen through the neglect of resources, food, shelter and medical care. It is very difficult to get resources to Guantanamo Bay as it can only be accessed by airplane or ship and with the lack of resources; shelter and medical supplies in Guantanamo Bay, it is very clear that the deported migrants will not be leaving. The United States is not worth dying for and being in the country without the right paperwork is not deserving of the death penalty. It is important to remember in these times that in world war 2 Germany/The Holocaust also began as a mass deportation effort.”
As of the time this report was published, the video had gained over 321,000 views, about 35,400 likes, over 2,270 comments, about 6,300 bookmarks and over 7,300 shares.
VERIFICATION
NV-A went ahead to verify the validity of this claim with a search of the US Department of Justice’s website and a web text search. The results revealed articles regarding the claim and a copy of the memo released by the U.S. Justice Department.
NPR reports that Donald Trump, president of the US, indicated his intentions to resume executions of federal death row prisoners and forcefully pursue new death sentences in future, particularly against migrants in the U.S without legal status that commit capital crimes. The renewed use of the death penalty was announced by an executive order signed on his first day in office.
A memo shared on the White House website explains in detail what the restoration of the death penalty means. In section 2 of the memo, Trump’s order seeks the U.S Attorney General to make use of the death penalty in future for all crimes of a severity demanding its use and that it should be used especially in two circumstances—when law enforcement officers are victims of murder or when a capital crime has been committed by an alien (person) illegally present in the country.
CONCLUSION
The claim that the U.S government has signed into law a death penalty for illegal immigrants is MISLEADING. While it is true that president Trump signed an executive order reinstating the death penalty, it is specifically for cases where an immigrant without legal status is convicted of a capital crime.
