U.S. judge wants to explain why the Trump administration expels Venezuela in court order
A U.S. federal judge urged the Trump administration on Monday to provide details about hundreds of Venezuelans, despite a court order banning it and provided the administration with an explanation until Tuesday to explain why officials believed they complied with his order.
U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration has deported more than 200 Venezuelans, claiming to be members of Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua, which has been linked to kidnapping, extortion and contract killing, kidnapping, extortion and contract killing at El Salvador over the weekend, even as Justice James Boasberg temporarily restricted it to the use of early laws to enforce deportation.
Boasberg earlier directed the government to provide details on the timing of flights to El Salvador, including whether they took off after the order was issued.
He raised the government’s lawyers in a response to a hearing on Monday.
“Why don’t you have an answer today?” Boasberg asked.
The hearing followed the government’s request to remove the judge from the case. The Trump administration challenges historical checks and balances between U.S. government branches.
Since taking office in January, Trump has been trying to push the boundaries of executive power, cut spending mandated by Congress, demolish institutions and fire thousands of federal workers.
Weekend Emergency Meeting
Monday’s meeting was prompted at an emergency hearing on Saturday, prompted by the American Civil Liberties Union to require Boasberg to impose a two-week temporary obstacle against Trump using the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 for deportation.
The White House asserted on Sunday that the federal court had no jurisdiction over Trump’s authority to expel foreign enemies under 18th-century laws historically used only in wartime, although it also said it had complied with the order.
In a court filing filed shortly before Monday’s hearing, the Trump administration said Saturday’s judge’s claim to withdraw the plane carrying immigrants was “unenforceable” because it was not in accordance with written orders.
The government said it did not violate Boasberg’s subsequent written orders, prohibiting immigration authorities from evacuating immigrants because the plane had left at the time of issuance.
But the judge said in court that he still wanted to know when to leave, when to leave our airspace and when to land in a foreign country. He also asked when the individual was transferred to a foreign detention center.
“There are many national security and diplomatic relations at risk,” said Justice Department attorney Abhishek Kambli.
Boasberg ordered the government to provide opportunities such as the departure and arrival time of foreign aircraft, the number of people deported and why the government did not believe it could disclose that information.
Boasberg did not say whether the government had violated his orders since Saturday.
Judges sometimes appear skeptical about the reason the Trump administration did not return the plane to the United States.
“Absurd border”
Some legal experts say the position of the aircraft in the air doesn’t matter.
Michael J. Gerhart, professor of constitutional law at the University of North Carolina School of Law.
“Government aircraft on government operations are not in politically unpolitical areas, and if that’s not the case, then the government can simply do anything that obviously wants to do as long as it’s no longer running on American soil.”
As the Republican-controlled Congress largely supported his agenda, federal judges were often the only limit on his executive actions, and many put aside many while they considered legitimacy. In some cases, advocacy groups say the government refuses to comply with judicial orders.
The Trump administration has described the expelled Venezuelans as gang members, “monsters” or “alien terrorists” but has not provided evidence to support its claims.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said a total of 261 people were deported, of which 137 were removed under the Alien Enemy Act, and more than 100 were removed through standard immigration procedures. Levitt said there are also 23 MS-13 gang members.
The Trump administration also found itself in an operation to deport Rhode Island doctors to Lebanon last week.
U.S. authorities said on Monday that they expelled Dr. Rasha Alawieh from a deleted project folder on their phones after discovering “sympathetic photos and videos” from former long-time Hezbollah leaders.
Alawieh also told agents that in Lebanon she attended the funeral of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah last month, who attended support as a Shia Muslim from a “religious perspective”.
The judges department provided the details as it sought to ensure to a federal judge in Boston that the U.S. Customs and Border Protection did not intentionally disobey the order he issued Friday, which should stop Alawieh was removed immediately.
