A district judge issued an order barring the Trump administration from using the Alien Enemies Act.
U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said that the government will “absolutely” continue deportation flights of Venezuelan illegal immigrants after a federal judge recently ordered officials to pause their efforts.
After President Donald Trump signed a proclamation invoking the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 and expanded deportation efforts, U.S. District Judge James Boasberg ordered a two-week delay on the deportation of five plaintiffs and later expanded the order to anyone impacted by the proclamation. Government officials have said that hundreds of members of the Tren de Aragua gang were deported, while Bondi and other Justice Department officials submitted an emergency petition in a bid to reverse the judge’s order on Sunday morning.
“These are foreign terrorists, the president has identified them and designated them as such, and we will continue to follow the Alien Enemies Act,” Bondi told Fox News on Monday evening.
Tren de Aragua, a transnational Venezuelan gang, was designated as a foreign terrorist organization by the Trump administration in January. Other groups that were designated as such include MS-13 and several major Mexican drug cartels. On Saturday, Boasberg ordered the Trump administration to turn around the planes that were carrying deported criminals back to their home countries.
The deported individuals were turned over to authorities in El Salvador and were shown being detained in social media videos uploaded by Salvadoran government officials.
Bondi said that Boasberg lacks the authority to issue such an order, adding that the decision “is an intrusion on the president’s authority.”
“You know, this one federal judge again thinks he can control foreign policy for the entire country, and he cannot,” the attorney general said in the interview. “We’re evaluating our options.”
Other U.S. government officials have been similarly incensed by the judge’s decision in interviews and in press conferences. White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller signaled to reporters on Monday that he believes the order is highly unusual.
“It is without doubt the most unlawful order a judge has issued in our lifetimes,” he said, adding that “a district court judge has no authority to direct the national security operations of the executive branch.”
