WASHINGTON: A US judge Monday ordered Trump administration officials to explain whether the administration violated his order when they deported hundreds of Venezuelan gang members over the weekend and potentially set up a constitutional clash between the president and the federal judiciary.
The White House asserted on Sunday that federal courts “have no jurisdiction” over President Trump’s authority to expel foreign enemies under an 18th-century law historically used only in wartime. Press secretary Karoline Leavitt said, “A single judge in a single city cannot direct the movements of an aircraft … full of foreign alien terrorists who were physically expelled from US soil,”
Judge James Boasberg in Washington set a hearing for 5pm ET (2.30am IST Tuesday) and instructed the govt to provide details on whether the flights that transported the Venezuelans to El Salvador took off after his order or were in the air at the time. The hearing was scheduled in response to an overnight filing by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and other advocates seeking clarity on the flights. At an emergency hearing on Saturday requested by the ACLU, a civil rights group, Boasberg issued a two-week temporary block on Trump’s use of the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to deport 238 alleged members of Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan gang. The judge said in court that any flights already en route should return to the US. His written order following the hearing appeared in the court’s online docket, the justice department said in a court filing.
On Sunday, El Salvador’s President, Nayib Bukele, posted footage on X. “Oopsie … too late,” hele wrote above a news story about the judge’s order.
(This is a Reuters story)