President Trump's lawyers keep judge in dark on Venezuelan deportation data

By David Voreacos and Greg Stohr

  US government lawyers defiantly defended President Donald Trump’s deportation of hundreds of alleged Venezuelan gang members and refused to provide a judge with information he says he needs to determine if the administration ignored his orders to turn planes back to the US. 

US District Judge James Boasberg convened a hearing Monday to press Justice Department lawyers for answers about whether the deportations took place after he’d issued an order Saturday not to do so. After the hearing, the judge ordered government lawyers to file a sworn declaration with answers to his questions by Tuesday at noon. 

 

 

The hearing came less than two hours after the Justice Department asked a federal appeals court to take Boasberg off the case, saying his questions were “flagrantly improper” and presented “grave risks.” 

 

At the hearing, Boasberg pressed a government attorney, Abhishek Kambli, to explain how many flights left the US on Saturday for El Salvador. The planes left a few hours after Trump publicly invoked the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to target alleged members of the Tren de Aragua gang for deportation. 

 

Kambli said the government didn’t violate Boasberg’s written order issued on Saturday about 7:25 p.m. to halt any flights under the law. Earlier, at a two-hour hearing, the judge had verbally directed the government to order the any flights in the air to turn around. 

 

But at Monday’s hearing, Kambli said the government didn’t have to honour the judge’s oral directive, which the attorney said didn’t have the same force of law as a written order. Kambli said he couldn’t reveal key logistical details about the flights, which involved classified information. 

 

“Apparently, my oral orders don’t carry much weight,” said Boasberg, the chief judge in Washington federal court. 

 

The judge’s order after the hearing said US lawyers must say whether anyone was deported based on the Alien Enemies Act after 7:25 pm on Saturday; and when Trump’s proclamation was signed, when it was made public, and when it went into effect. 

 

Boasberg also wants the government to estimate how many people in the US are subject to deportation based on Trump’s proclamation, and how many of those are in custody. 

 

Seeking answers 

US lawyers also must provide answers about “the particulars of the flights,” which the judge said they could do in his chambers or a classified setting. If the government concludes it can’t provide that information “under any circumstances,” Boasberg said it must provide a legal rationale. 

 

The legal fight began when five Venezuelans filed a lawsuit early Saturday morning in anticipation that Trump would invoke the Alien Enemies Act to target alleged members of the Tren de Aragua gang. Trump had signed a presidential proclamation to put the act into effect on Friday, but didn’t release it until Saturday afternoon.

 

That day, Boasberg issued an order to temporarily stop the deportation of the five Venezuelans. In the afternoon, he halted use of the law to deport any alleged Tren de Aragua members. But by then planes had already taken off.

 

Trump’s proclamation claimed Tren de Aragua is “undertaking hostile actions and conducting irregular warfare against the territory of the United States both directly and at the direction, clandestine or otherwise, of the Maduro regime in Venezuela.”

 

‘This is war’ 

The president defended his use of the wartime law in a discussion with reporters Sunday night aboard Air Force One.

 

“This is war,” Trump said. “In many respects, it’s more dangerous than war because, you know, in war, they have uniforms. You know who you’re shooting at.”

 

Justice Department lawyers urged the judge to cancel Monday’s hearing, arguing in a court filing that the judge should “de-escalate the grave incursions on Executive Branch authority that have already arisen.” They said the government couldn’t reveal “national security or operational security details” about the flight. But Boasberg rejected the request, ordering the hearing to proceed.  

 

Two groups that sued the administration alleged in a court filing Monday that the government may have violated the judge’s order to halt the expulsions.  

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The case is J.G.G. v. Trump, 25-cv-766, US District Court, District of Columbia (Washington).