The Trump administration says it ignored a Saturday court order to turn around two planeloads of alleged Venezuelan gang members because the flights were over international waters and therefore the ruling didn't apply, two senior officials tell Axios.
The administration's decision to defy a federal judge's order is exceedingly rare and highly controversial.
The White House welcomes that fight. "This is headed to the Supreme Court. And we're going to win," a senior White House official told Axios.
Trump's advisers contend U.S. District Judge James Boasberg overstepped his authority by issuing an order that blocked the president from deporting about 250 alleged Tren de Aragua gang members under the Alien Enemies Act of 1789.
White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller "orchestrated" the process in the West Wing in tandem with Homeland Security Secretary Kristy Noem. Few outside their teams knew what was happening.
They didn't actually set out to defy a court order. "We wanted them on the ground first, before a judge could get the case, but this is how it worked out," said the official.
Officially, the Trump White House is not denying it ignored the judge's order, and instead wants to shift the argument to whether it was right to expel alleged members of Tren de Aragua.
It's unclear how many of the roughly 250 Venezuelans were deported under the Alien Enemies Act and how many were kicked out of the U.S. due to other immigration laws. It's also not clear whether all of them were actually gang members.
Posted by John3262005
3 Comments
> “This is headed to the Supreme Court. And we’re going to win,”
Doesn’t matter even if they don’t. The admin has been clear they don’t think the courts have purview over executive action. If you have a congress unwilling to remove you, the executive is a dictator now.
“By just kind of doing it.”
>the administration’s decision to defy a federal judge’s order is exceedingly rare
Is it though?