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Donald Trump’s administration admits that “many” of the dozens of Venezuelan men deported to El Salvador’s notorious mega prison have no criminal record whatsoever.
But a lack of a criminal record “does not indicate they pose a limited threat,” according to a sworn statement from an Immigration and Customs Enforcement official submitted in court filings.
A “lack of specific information about each individual actually highlights the risk they pose,” according to ICE official Robert Cerna.
“It demonstrates that they are terrorists with regard to whom we lack a complete profile,” he wrote.
The extraordinary statement was included in court filings from the Trump administration calling on a judge to reverse his order that temporarily blocks deportations under the Alien Enemies Act, a move that government lawyers called “an affront to the President’s broad constitutional and statutory authority to protect the United States from dangerous aliens who pose grave threats to the American people.”
District Judge James Boasberg has ordered government attorneys to respond to several questions — about the timing of the flights, when the planes left U.S. airspace, and who was on them — to determine whether officials intentionally defied his court order.
The Trump administration has appealed the injunction, and Department of Justice attorneys have argued that “there is no justification to order the provision of additional information, and that doing so would be inappropriate.”
Those answers would “disclose sensitive information bearing on national security and foreign relations,” according to a court filing from Justice Department lawyers.
Three flights allegedly containing members of Venezuela’s Tren de Agua gang left the United States for El Salvador on Friday night despite the judge’s verbal — and written — orders that expressly blocked them from taking off.
A timeline is crucial to determine whether the administration openly defied the order, citing Trump’s unprecedented claim of executive authority — what critics fear is a threshold that shreds critical checks and balances.
“The implications of the government’s position are staggering,” attorneys for deported Venezuelan immigrants wrote to an appeals court Tuesday.
“If the President can designate any group as enemy aliens under the Act, and that designation is unreviewable, then there is no limit on who can be sent to a Salvadoran prison, or any limit on how long they will remain there,” they added. “At present, the Salvadoran President is saying these men will be there at least a year and that this imprisonment is ‘renewable.’”
Trump, meanwhile, has demanded the judge’s impeachment, drawing a rare rebuke from Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts on Tuesday.
“For more than two centuries, it has been established that impeachment is not an appropriate response to disagreement concerning a judicial decision,” he said in a statement to reporters. “The normal appellate review process exists for that purpose.”
The National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers has also criticized the administration’s arguments and condemned the president’s attacks.
“Accusations without evidence, the denial of access to legal counsel, and the apparent defiance of court orders not to deport accused individuals without a hearing represent a dangerous departure from these principles,” association president Christopher A. Wellborn said in a statement.
