Trump signs executive order seeking to expand use Of death penalty

President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Monday night calling for the dramatic expansion of the use of the federal death penalty.

The directive calls on the attorney general to pursue the federal death penalty “for all crimes of a severity demanding its use,” particularly in cases involving the killing of law enforcement officers and capital crimes “committed by an alien illegally present in this country.”

Trump frequently blames immigrants for violent crime in the U.S., despite studies showing that they are not more likely than native-born Americans to commit crimes. During campaign rallies, Trump described migrants as “animals” who were “poisoning the blood of our country” ― dehumanizing language that is reminiscent of Nazi rhetoric.

The executive order also calls for the “Overruling of Supreme Court Precedents That Hinder Capital Punishment,” likely a reference to Supreme Court rulings in 1977 and 2008 that held that carrying out the death…