The United States treated alleged Nazis better during World War II than the Trump Administration treated Venezuelan migrants last week, a federal appeals judge told a Justice Department lawyer during a court hearing Monday.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit is hearing arguments over the Trump administration's use of the Alien Enemies Act last week to deport more than 200 alleged members of a Venezuelan gang to El Salvador with no due process.
"There were plane loads of people. There were no procedures in place to notify people," Judge Patricia Millett said. "Nazis got better treatment under the Alien Enemies Act."
Judge Millett noted that alleged Nazis were given hearing boards and were subject to established regulations, while the alleged members of Tren De Aragua were given no such rights.
"There's no regulations, and nothing was adopted by the agency officials that were administering this. They people weren't given notice. They weren't told where they were going. They were given those people on those planes on that Saturday and had no opportunity to file habeas or any type of action to challenge the removal under the AEA," Judge Millet said. "What's factually wrong about what I said?"
"Well, Your Honor, we certainly dispute the Nazi analogy," Deputy Assistant Attorney General Drew Ensign said, arguing some of the men were able to file habeas petitions.
Ensign compared an order from U.S. District Judge James Boasberg temporarily blocking the deportations to a judge directing a carrier group from the South China Sea to the Persian Gulf — an analogy that drew an immediate rebuke from Millett.
Posted by John3262005