A US appeals court panel was set to hear a bid on Monday by the Trump administration to overturn a judge’s order temporarily suspending the summary deportations of undocumented migrants using an obscure wartime law.
The Justice Department announced plans meanwhile to send three alleged members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua (TdA) to Chile under the rarely used 1798 Alien Enemies Act (AEA).
“In fact, we would have already removed these violent gang members to Chile to face justice were it not for the nationwide injunction imposed by a single judge in Washington DC, which we are challenging today,” Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a statement.
James Boasberg, chief judge of the US District Court in Washington, issued a temporary restraining order on March 15 barring the Trump administration from carrying out further deportation flights under the AEA.
The Justice Department has appealed the federal judge’s order and a three-judge panel of the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit is to hear oral arguments in the closely watched case on Monday.
The Trump administration sent two planeloads of alleged TdA members to a prison in El Salvador on March 15 after invoking the AEA, which has only previously been used during the War of 1812, World War I and World War II.
Attorneys for several of the deported Venezuelans have said their clients were not members of the gang, had committed no crimes and were targeted only because of their tattoos.
In a 37-page opinion issued on Monday, Boasberg said the “unprecedented used of the Act outside of the typical wartime context… implicates a host of complicated legal issues.”
The judge said that migrants subject to potential deportation under the AEA should be “entitled to individualized hearings to determine whether the Act applies to them at all.”
“It follows that summary deportation following close on the heels of the Government’s informing an alien that he is subject to the (AEA) — without giving him the opportunity to consider whether to voluntarily self-deport or challenge the basis for the order — is unlawful,” Boasberg said.
President Donald Trump has repeatedly lashed out at Boasberg, even going so far as to call for his impeachment, a remark that drew a rare public rebuke of the president from Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts.
The case has raised concerns among legal experts that the administration would potentially ignore the court order, triggering a constitutional crisis.
Blanche, the deputy attorney general, while complaining about Boasberg’s order temporarily barring AEA deportations, said the Justice Department is taking “every step within the bounds of the law.”
In a 37-page opinion issued on Monday, Boasberg said the “unprecedented used of the Act outside of the typical wartime context… implicates a host of complicated legal issues.”
The judge said that migrants subject to potential deportation under the AEA should be “entitled to individualized hearings to determine whether the Act applies to them at all.”
“It follows that summary deportation following close on the heels of the Government’s informing an alien that he is subject to the (AEA) — without giving him the opportunity to consider whether to voluntarily self-deport or challenge the basis for the order — is unlawful,” Boasberg said.
President Donald Trump has repeatedly lashed out at Boasberg, even going so far as to call for his impeachment, a remark that drew a rare public rebuke of the president from Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts.
The case has raised concerns among legal experts that the administration would potentially ignore the court order, triggering a constitutional crisis.
Blanche, the deputy attorney general, while complaining about Boasberg’s order temporarily barring AEA deportations, said the Justice Department is taking “every step within the bounds of the law.”
Via AFP