Judge demands answers of Trump administration in Venezuela deportation case
World
Since taking office in January, Trump has sought to push the boundaries of executive power
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A federal judge on Monday gave the Trump administration a Tuesday deadline to provide details about plane loads of Venezuelans it deported despite orders not to, in a brewing showdown over presidential power.
President Donald Trump claims the deported Venezuelans are members of the prison gang Tren de Aragua, which he designated as a Foreign Terrorist Organization. The White House on Saturday published a Trump proclamation that invoked the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to declare the gang was conducting irregular warfare against the U.S.
Later on Saturday, U.S. District Judge James Boasberg issued an order blocking the deportations, but the flights continued anyway and 261 people were flown to El Salvador.
A Trump administration lawyer argued both that the judge's initial oral ruling to block the flights was superseded by a more sparsely written order issued later, and that the government had the legal right to continue with flights once they had left U.S. airspace.
Since taking office in January, Trump has sought to push the boundaries of executive power, challenging the historic checks and balances between the U.S. branches of government.
During a court hearing on Monday, Boasberg, repeatedly pressed the Justice Department attorney, Abhishek Kambli, to provide details on the timing of the flights that transported the Venezuelans to El Salvador, including whether they took off after his order was issued.
"Why are you showing up today without answers?" Boasberg asked.
The judge is trying to ascertain the exact timeline of events surrounding his rulings on Saturday, including when the flights took off and who was on them.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said 261 people were deported in total, including 137 who were removed under the Alien Enemies Act and more than 100 others who were removed via standard immigration proceedings. There were also 23 Salvadoran members of the MS-13 gang, she said.
TIMELINE DETAILS SOUGHT
According to a Reuters timeline, Boasberg's oral ruling that "any plane containing these folks ... needs to be returned to the United States" was issued between 6:45 p.m. and 6:48 p.m Eastern Time. At that hour, two flights were in the air.
