The White House is denying that it violated a judge’s order Saturday to halt the deportations of alleged Venezuelan gang members to El Salvador, which, if it did occur, would take legal showdowns over the administration’s claims of vast presidential power closer to the edge of a constitutional crisis.
The drama surrounds Venezuelan migrants expelled with the rare use of an 18th-century law — the Alien Enemies Act — another controversial decision and one that may represent overreach by President Donald Trump.
US District Judge James Boasberg temporarily blocked the deportations to consider the implications of using the act — and said in court that any planes already in the air carrying migrants should return to the US. But the administration announced on Sunday that 250 deportees that it said were affiliated with the Tren de Aragua gang were in El Salvadorian custody.
A carefully worded statement by White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt on Sunday evening only deepened intrigue over whether officials defied the judge.
“The Administration did not ‘refuse to comply’ with a court order. The order, which had no lawful basis, was issued after terrorist (Tren de Aragua) aliens had already been removed from U.S. territory,” Leavitt said.
“A single judge in a single city cannot direct the movements of an aircraft carrier full of foreign alien terrorists who were physically expelled from U.S. soil,” she added.
A distinction Leavitt made about the judge’s “written” order, and the fact she noted the migrants had left US soil but did not say when in the timeline they arrived in El Salvador, seem significant. Her use of the phrase “aircraft carrier” is confusing, however. And White Houses don’t have the power to decree whether court orders are lawful.
The exact timing of Boasberg’s orders and how they correspond to the deportation operation is not yet clear. But if the administration defied the judge, it would potentially create the most serious legal quagmire of the administration so far and would fuel fears that an authoritarian presidency could openly defy the rule of law.
Read Collinson’s full analysis here.
