U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi and other Justice Department officials say that a federal judge exceeded his authority with his decision.
U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi filed an emergency motion on behalf of the Trump administration to dissolve a federal judge’s order on March 15 that blocked President Donald Trump from invoking the Alien Enemies Act of 1798.
In a motion filed on March 16, Bondi and her staff accused U.S. District Judge James Boasberg of implementing “an unprecedented, nationwide temporary restraining order” that halted deportations of illegal immigrants associated with the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua under the 18th-century law. The motion argued that Boasberg initiated a “massive, unauthorized imposition” on the executive branch’s authority.
“This Court should halt this unprecedented intrusion upon the Executive’s authority to remove dangerous aliens who pose grave threats to the American people,” reads the emergency petition, which was submitted to the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
On March 15, Boasberg said he needed to issue his order immediately because the government was already deporting illegal immigrants it considers deportable under Trump’s proclamation to El Salvador and Honduras to be incarcerated. El Salvador already agreed this week to take up to 300 illegal immigrants that the Trump administration has designated as gang members.
“I do not believe I can wait any longer and am required to act,” Boasberg said during a March 15 hearing in a lawsuit brought by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and Democracy Forward.
“A brief delay in their removal does not cause the government any harm,” he said, noting that the illegal immigrants remain in government custody.
He ordered that any planes in the air be turned around.
The ruling came hours after Trump issued an order saying that the Venezuelan gang, designated as a foreign terrorist organization several weeks ago, was invading the United States. Trump invoked the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, a wartime authority that allows the president broader leeway on policy and executive action to speed up mass deportations.
The act has only been used three times before, all during wars. Its most recent application was during World War II, when it was used to incarcerate Germans and Italians and for the mass internment of Japanese American civilians.
