President Donald Trump’s decision to deport hundreds of suspected gang members to El Salvador is a violation of judicial authority and an assault on the rule of law, experts told Newsweek.
“The Trump administration’s blatant violation of the order by a federal judge to halt the expulsion of immigrants without any due process and based on no evidence of wrongdoing is the most direct and dangerous assault on the rule of law by any president in American history,” Bennett Gershman, a law professor at Pace University, told Newsweek. “In effect, Trump has proclaimed to the courts, ‘We’re in charge’ and ‘You’re not.’
“It signals a perilous escalation between Trump’s assertion that he is the law, and the principles since our founding that the courts decide the law and the law rules.”
ROBERTO SCHMIDT/AFP via Getty Images
Why It Matters
The controversy stems from the Trump administration’s defiance of a federal judge’s order to halt the expulsion of immigrants without due process.
The Trump administration has denied violating a federal judge’s order temporarily halting deportations under an 18th-century wartime declaration aimed at Venezuelan gang members.
On Sunday morning, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that 250 suspected members of the Tren de Aragua (TdA) gang were deported to El Salvador, despite a U.S. federal judge’s directive to pause the removals and return of any planes carrying deportees.
Legal scholars argue that Trump’s actions threaten the balance of power and set a dangerous precedent for future administrations to ignore court orders.
What To Know
On Saturday, Trump invoked the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to deport alleged members of the Tren de Aragua gang. He defended the use of the law by claiming that the gangs were infiltrating the United States.
The law, which grants the president the power to detain, restrict or deport foreign nationals from countries at war with the United States, has been used three times in U.S. history—during the War of 1812, World War I and World War II.
Shortly after the announcement, a federal judge issued a temporary order blocking its enforcement.
Axios reported on Sunday that two senior White House officials said the administration was aware of the court order but chose to disregard it. One official suggested the legal battle would ultimately reach the U.S. Supreme Court, while the other argued that the ruling did not apply because the deportation flights were already over international waters.
On Saturday, U.S. District Judge James E. Boasberg issued an order temporarily stopping the deportations. However, lawyers informed him that two planes carrying immigrants were already in flight. While Boasberg verbally instructed that the planes be turned around, this directive was not included in his written order.
Gershman said: “Trump has relied on a fraudulent pretext to expel from the country undesirable persons—the 1798 Alein Enemies Act—which applies during ‘wartime’ or when a foreign government threatens an ‘invasion.’
“The Act will be the basis for Trump’s plan to expel virtually any immigrant over 14 years old who comes from a foreign so-called ‘enemy’ country.”
Experts warned that Trump’s actions align him with authoritarian leaders who disregard judicial oversight and undermine democratic institutions.
“Trump more clearly than ever has situated himself with authoritarian despots who mock the rule of law, pretend to be kings, and happily proclaim the manifesto of tyrants that the end justifies the means,” Gershman said.
John Sandweg, who was acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) from August 2013 to February 2014 during the Obama administration, told Newsweek that invoking the Alien Enemies Act “raises a whole bunch of concerns.”
Meanwhile, Democratic U.S. Senators Alex Padilla of California, Cory Booker of New Jersey, Democratic Whip Dick Durbin of Illinois and Peter Welch of Vermont, members of the Senate Judiciary Committee, issued a statement condemning Trump’s use of the Alien Enemies Act of 1798.
What People Are Saying
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt in a statement on X, formerly Twitter, on Monday: “The Administration did not ‘refuse to comply’ with a court order. The order, which had no lawful basis, was issued after terrorist TdA aliens had already been removed from U.S. territory. The written order and the Administration’s actions do not conflict. Moreover, as the Supreme Court has repeatedly made clear—federal courts generally have no jurisdiction over the President’s conduct of foreign affairs, his authorities under the Alien Enemies Act, and his core Article II powers to remove foreign alien terrorists from U.S. soil and repel a declared invasion. A single judge in a single city cannot direct the movements of an aircraft carrying foreign alien terrorists who were physically expelled from U.S. soil.”
Tom Decker, a former ICE New York field office director, told Newsweek: “Foreign gangs, especially the TDA, are a dangerous threat to the United States. By evoking the Alien Enemies Act, President Trump is following through with his campaign promise to protect the citizens of the United States.”
Bennett Gershman, a law professor at Pace University, told Newsweek: “The timeline for Trump’s flouting of the judge’s order is indisputable. While the Trump administration was preparing to expel hundreds of alleged Venezuelan gang members, and after planes were in the air destined for El Salvador, and after a motion was filed to stop the expulsions, lawyers for Trump argued before federal Judge James Boasberg that they didn’t know whether deportations would happen within the next day or two.
“The judge took a break in the proceedings to give the attorneys time to obtain more information. During the break, another flight took off. The judge then ordered any planes in the air to return to the U.S. More than an hour after the judge’s order, a plane landed in El Salvador with dozens of immigrants, and the president of El Salvador, who would be paid millions of dollars by the U.S. to put these immigrants in a claimed horrific prison, posted on the internet, “Oopsie…Too late,” with a laughing emoji, and which was reposted by Secretary of State Marco Rubio.”
Ariel Prado, director of civic engagement of Innovation Law Lab, in a statement: “The Alien Enemies Act has a dark history and its invocation today raises serious concerns about mass surveillance, racial targeting, and unconstitutional detentions not just for immigrants, but for every person in the country whom Trump dislikes or who he thinks is disloyal to him.”
Senators Alex Padilla, Cory Booker, Dick Durbin and Peter Welch, in a joint statement: “Over the weekend, President Trump invoked the 1798 Alien Enemies Act to deport noncitizens without due process. This attempt to use an archaic wartime law — not used since World War II — for immigration enforcement is yet another unlawful and brazen power grab.
“Let’s be clear: we are not at war, and immigrants are not invading our country. Furthermore, courts determine whether people have broken the law — not a president acting alone, and not immigration agents picking and choosing who gets imprisoned or deported. It’s what our Constitution demands, and it’s the law Trump is bound by no matter how much he tries to mislead the American people otherwise. These protections are there to help ensure U.S. citizens aren’t wrongfully deported, or people who haven’t committed a crime aren’t wrongfully punished.”
What Happens Next
A hearing is set for Friday to decide whether the judge’s injunction on the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 will be extended.
The move to temporarily halt deportations under the Act could trigger a high-stakes legal battle with the Trump administration, possibly escalating to a review by the U.S. Supreme Court.
