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“A federal judge on Saturday temporarily blocked any deportations that would occur under U.S. President Donald Trump's use of a little-used wartime law to expedite the expulsion of alleged members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua. Hours earlier, Trump invoked the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 against the group, saying the United States was facing an ‘invasion’ from a criminal organization that has been linked to kidnapping, extortion, organized crime and contract killings…
“Judge James Boasberg issued a temporary restraining order for 14 days. Boasberg said the act ‘does not provide a basis for the president's proclamation given that the terms invasion, predatory incursion really relate to hostile acts perpetrated by any nation and commensurate to war.’” Reuters
“[Boasberg] on Monday pressed the Trump administration to provide details about hundreds of Venezuelans it deported despite [the] court order barring it from doing so, and gave the government until Tuesday to explain why officials believed they had complied with his order…
“The White House asserted on Sunday that federal courts have no jurisdiction over Trump's authority to expel foreign enemies under the 18th-century law, historically used only in wartime, though it also said it had complied with the order…
“In a court filing shortly before Monday's hearing, the Trump administration said a spoken directive from the judge on Saturday to return any planes carrying the migrants was ‘not enforceable’ because it was not in a written order.” Reuters
The left is critical of the administration, arguing that the law does not apply as the US is not at war.
“The most important thing to know about the administration’s claim that the courts can’t second-guess a proclamation under the Act is that it’s based on a misleading reading of the law. It would be one thing if the law said that the president can deport citizens whenever he determines that there is a war or threatened incursion. Then, the statute might appear to give the president unilateral authority to trigger deportation. But that’s not what the law says…
“Rather, the Act says that two conditions must exist for the law to be triggered and for noncitizens to be deported. First, there must actually be a declared war or a real or threatened invasion or incursion. Second, the president must make ‘a public proclamation of the event.’ If the war or threatened incursion aren’t real, then the statute can’t go into effect. And that determination is a matter of fact, not presidential proclamation. It should therefore be subject to review by the courts.”
Noah Feldman, Bloomberg
“Trump is nonsensically attempting to use the words ‘invasion’ and ‘incursion’ to describe criminal immigrants as if simply calling Venezuela a ‘hybrid criminal state’ makes it true. Neither can the alleged members of the targeted Tren de Aragua gang be accurately described as terrorists…
“Assuming they are all members of the criminal gang he has cited, and there's no way of knowing who they are since there is no due process, this is obviously a domestic criminal matter, akin to dealing with organized crime, not an act of war against the United States.”
Heather Digby Parton, Salon
“The White House insists that it did not actually defy Boasberg’s judicial order, but its arguments are very hard to take at face value. ‘The Administration did not ‘refuse to comply’ with a court order,’ White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement. ‘The order, which had no lawful basis, was issued after terrorist [Tren de Aragua] aliens had already been removed from U.S. territory.’ She’s trying to have it both ways—the order is unlawful, but also we didn’t ignore it…
“The plane left during a break in the hearing, as though the government was angling to get out just ahead of any mandate. During a briefing today, Leavitt also questioned whether the verbal order held the same weight as a written order, which is a matter of settled law… The statements of Trump administration officials elsewhere make it even harder to take their actions as anything other than attempting to defy judges…
“Salvadoran President Bukele posted [a screenshot] about the judge’s order on X with the commentary, ‘Oopsie…Too late’… Secretary of State Marco Rubio shared Bukele’s post from his own account. ‘Border czar’ Tom Homan appeared on Fox News this morning and said, ‘We’re not stopping. I don’t care what the judges think. I don’t care what the left thinks. We’re coming.’ These actions should be terrifying no matter who is involved. The fact that Tren de Aragua is indeed a vicious gang doesn’t nullify the law.”
David A. Graham, The Atlantic
The right supports removing the gang members, and is divided about the court ruling.
The right supports removing the gang members, and is divided about the court ruling.
“The Alien Enemies Act (AEA) was passed by Congress and signed into law in 1798. It is well-established, has never been repealed, and has been reviewed by courts numerous times. Four different presidents have invoked it, three of them Democrats in the 20th century. Moreover, the act is not limited to wartime authority as some claim. Presidents Woodrow Wilson and Harry Truman used the act well after both world wars had ended…
“In 1948, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld Truman’s use of the AEA and ruled that the law itself was constitutional… Importantly, the high court stated that a president’s decision under the Act ‘precludes judicial review of the removal order.’… The court explained, ‘The very nature of the President’s power to order the removal of all enemy aliens rejects the notion that courts may pass judgment upon the exercise of his discretion.’”
Gregg Jarrett, Fox News
“The fight with an Obama-appointed judge over Venezuelan gang bangers it is portraying as terrorists is one the administration covets. The deportation gambit was sprung on a Saturday, when the administration had to know there would be emergency applications by the detainees but that the court would have difficulty convening a hearing — even as the administration moved forward with the deportation flights…
“Politically, the president knows that even if there are legal problems with his Alien Enemy Act theory, a large percentage of the country is outraged by the collapse of border security, rampant illegal immigration, and gang crime. That’s why Trump was elected, and he knows it. The administration reasonably thus calculates that the deportations will not only be popular but will make the president more popular if they are portrayed as yet another instance of Democrats and Democrat-appointed judges siding with alien lawbreakers over Americans.”
Andrew C. McCarthy, National Review
Others note, “The Administration can appeal whatever ruling Judge Boasberg hands down, and the case will go up the appellate chain… What the Administration can’t do is defy a court order without being lawless itself. Also troubling is the U.S. reliance on Mr. Bukele, the Salvadoran president who has trampled due process in his war against crime…
“The U.S. is paying Mr. Bukele $6 million to handle the 300 gang members, and Mr. Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio have praised him as if he’s an American hero… It [also] isn’t clear why Mr. Trump had to get in a prison bed with Mr. Bukele when he could have sent the gang members to Guantanamo for immigration hearings and American due process…
“Mr. Trump won the election on a promise to deport illegal migrants, especially criminals and Tren de Aragua. His voters will be happy he is fulfilling that promise. But he has to do it within the bounds of American law, or he will take the country down a dangerous road that echoes of the way the Biden Administration abused the justice system. Mr. Trump was elected to stop that, not imitate it.”
Editorial Board, Wall Street Journal
Take a hike on the search for Ohio's state amphibian.
Spotted Salamander
