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Trump Administration Deports Alleged Gang Members Despite Judge’s Order
White House says it followed court’s written ruling; judge verbally instructed planes en route to turn around
“… During Saturday’s hearing, American Civil Liberties Union lawyer Lee Gelernt told Boasberg that two aircraft believed to be carrying Venezuelan deportees took off from U.S. territory on Saturday. The ACLU had sued the administration earlier that day on behalf of migrants at risk of deportation.
Boasberg said Justice Department lawyers hadn’t disputed that claim, and told them that “any plane containing these folks that is going to take off or is in the air needs to be returned to the United States.” Boasberg said his order was “something we need to make sure is complied with immediately.”
… The judge subsequently issued a written order that didn’t explicitly mention planes that were already in the air, something White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt appeared to point to Sunday.
…Typically lawyers view orders issued orally by judges as carrying full legal weight.
Senior White House and administration officials huddled on Saturday evening to make a decision about what to do with the judge’s order, and decided to go ahead with their plans, according to a person familiar with the matter.
The administration is expecting a fight at the Supreme Court quickly, this person said. …”
“…The Justice Department swiftly asked a federal appeals court to lift Boasberg’s restraining order. And in a court filing Sunday, the administration said that it had deported some alleged gang members before the court’s Saturday evening order.
It also indicated that it plans to continue to deport migrants it deems a threat to the U.S. on other legal grounds.
… Rubio also reposted a comment from El Salvador’s president, Nayib Bukele, that said “oopsie…too late” in reference to a news article about the judge’s order halting the deportations.
… One of the planes was still on the ground in Harlingen, Texas, an airport that has become a hub for deportation flights, when the judge verbally issued the order around 6:45 p.m. Bukele’s video shows men being escorted off that plane, which departed Texas at about 7:35 p.m. and landed in El Salvador at 1:10 a.m., according to flightradar24’s tracking information. The country of origin of those men couldn’t be determined.
…
The Alien Enemies Act was first passed in 1798 and has been seldom used since. The law, which allows a president during wartime to deport citizens of countries considered an enemy of the U.S., was last invoked in World War II as the legal authority for interning noncitizens of Japanese, German and Italian descent.
The administration hopes invoking the act will give it broad power to arrest and deport certain immigrants in the country illegally without a hearing in immigration court, essentially denying them due process before they are removed. Trump has grown frustrated with his team at the pace of deportationsso far.”