A federal judge on Monday kept his block on deportation flights of alleged members of Venezuela’s crime gang Tren de Araragua under the 1798 Alien Enemies Act.
In a 37-page ruling, Chief U.S. District Judge James Boasberg in Washington, D.C., wrote that Venezuelans whom the Trump administration wants to deport under the act should get a hearing on whether they are gang members. Boasberg wrote in his ruling: “The Court need not resolve the thorny question of whether the judiciary has the authority to assess this claim in the first place. That is because Plaintiffs are likely to succeed on another equally fundamental theory: Before they may be deported, they are entitled to individualized hearings to determine whether the Act applies to them at all.”
Boasberg said use of the Alien Enemies Act “implicates a host of complicated legal issues” adding: “Federal courts are equipped to adjudicate that question when individuals threatened with detention and removal challenge their designation as such. Because the named Plaintiffs dispute that they are members of Tren de Aragua, they may not be deported until a court has been able to decide the merits of their challenge.”
Judge Boasberg was appointed to the Superior Court of the District of Columbia by President George W. Bush in 2002 and elevated to the District Court in 2001 by President Barack Obama. Pres. Trump blasted the judge, writing on Truth Social: “This Radical Left Lunatic of a Judge, a troublemaker and agitator who was sadly appointed by Barack Hussein Obama, was not elected President – He didn’t WIN the popular VOTE (by a lot!), he didn’t WIN ALL SEVEN SWING STATES, he didn’t WIN 2,750 to 525 Counties, HE DIDN’T WIN ANYTHING! I WON FOR MANY REASONS, IN AN OVERWHELMING MANDATE, BUT FIGHTING ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION MAY HAVE BEEN THE NUMBER ONE REASON FOR THIS HISTORIC VICTORY. I’m just doing what the VOTERS wanted me to do. This judge, like many of the Crooked Judges’ I am forced to appear before, should be IMPEACHED!!! WE DON’T WANT VICIOUS, VIOLENT, AND DEMENTED CRIMINALS, MANY OF THEM DERANGED MURDERERS, IN OUR COUNTRY. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!!!”
The Justice Administration believes it has authority under the 1798 Alien Enemies Act because they are a “hybrid criminal state” invading the United States though it has been only invoked in times of declared war against other countries. DOJ lawyers have argued in court filings that “The President’s action is lawful and based upon a long history of using war authorities against organizations connected to foreign states and national security judgments, which are not subject to judicial second guessing.”
An three-member appeals court heard oral arguments later on Monday on whether the lower court can hear and address the Trump administration’s deportation of migrants under an 18th-century wartime law, but did not issue a ruling. The three-judge panel consists of Judges Karen Henderson, Patricia Millett and Justin Walker — two of whom were appointed by a Republican president. The panel declined a bid from the Trump administration to immediately remove Judge James Boasberg from the case and lift a temporary restraining order on the deportations.
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