'Nazis got better treatment': Appeals judge on Trump deportation flights
An appeals court sent mixed signals on how it might rule on President Trump's effort to keep hasty deportations going under the Alien Enemies Act.
www.usatoday.com
“Judge Patricia A. Millett, one of three judges hearing a
Trump administration appeal over deportation flights, voiced concern Monday that alleged Nazis were given more rights by the U.S. government during World War II than the Trump administration gave
alleged Venezuelan gang members deported on two plane flights March 15.
"There were plane loads of people. There were no procedures in place to notify people. Nazis got better treatment under the Alien (Enemies) Act than has happened here," Millett, an Obama appointee on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, said. Alleged Nazis, she said, got the chance to go before hearing boards as part of their process.
Millett was one of three appellate judges considering Monday whether to free the Trump administration from a
temporary restraining orderthat has halted its ability to hastily deport alleged members of the Tren de Aragua Venezuelan gang under the
1798 Alien Enemies Act. The other two judges are Trump-appointee Justin R. Walker and George H. W. Bush-appointee Karen LeCraft Henderson.
… Millet wasn't the only judge to express concern that the deportees deserved a chance to be heard in court.
"You're not getting an argument from this bench so far today against the idea that every single member of this class can have" a chance to claim innocence before a judge, Walker said.
However, many of Walker's questions suggested he could be inclined to rule the five plaintiffs should have brought their legal challenge through a procedure that would place them in a Texas court, instead of a D.C. one. Texas is where the five detainees are being held, he emphasized.
Walker also questioned an order from U.S. District Judge James Boasberg – whom Trump has
said he wants impeached – for the Trump administration to turn any planes around that were currently in the air.
"I'm wondering if you can point me to a district court (temporary restraining order) or injunction that survived appeal that stopped an ongoing, partially-overseas national security operation in the way that this – at the time, at least – did order planes to take foreigners from international waters to the United States?" Walker asked ACLU lawyer Lee Gelernt, who was arguing on behalf of the detainees.
Gelernt responded that the government shouldn't be able to argue that national security prevents people from getting a chance to be heard before getting deported.“