'It's my job to get killers out,' Trump says as migrants fight deportation

Trump says it's his duty to remove 'killers and thugs' as migrants challenge deportation under 18th-century law in heated US legal, political standoff

US President Donald Trump on Saturday launched a scathing attack on his predecessor, Joe Biden, accusing him of allowing "criminals" to flood into the country through what he called an "open and dangerous border."

 

In a post on X (formerly Twitter), Trump said it was his duty to remove these criminals.

 

"Sleepy Joe Biden, THE WORST PRESIDENT IN THE HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES, has allowed millions and millions of criminals, many of them murderers, drug dealers, and people released from prisons and mental institutions from all around the world, to enter our country through its very dangerous and ill conceived open border," Trump wrote.  

 

 

"Sorry, but it's my job to get these killers and thugs out of here. THAT'S WHAT I GOT ELECTED TO DO. MAGA!" he added.

 

Sleepy Joe Biden, THE WORST PRESIDENT IN THE HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES, has allowed millions and millions of Criminals, many of them murderers, drug dealers, and people released from prisons and mental institutions from all around the world, to enter our Country through it’s…

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 18, 2025

 

Meanwhile, legal battles over the fate of migrants intensified in Washington DC. According to a report by CNN, a Federal Judge told lawyers representing migrants in Texas that he could not block their possible deportation, even though he expressed concerns about the Trump administration's actions.

 

During the hearing, a Justice Department lawyer revealed that while no deportation flights were currently planned, the Department of Homeland Security still reserved the right to carry out removals at any time.

 

"I am sympathetic to everything you're saying, I just don't think I have the power to do anything," Judge James Boasberg said during the hearing, as quoted by CNN.  

 

He further explained that, based on a recent Supreme Court ruling, only courts with jurisdiction over the Texas detention centres where the migrants are held could intervene.

 

In a related development, a group of Venezuelan migrants filed an emergency appeal with the Supreme Court on Saturday to stop their deportation under the Alien Enemies Act (AEA) — an 18th-century wartime law.

 

This marks the second time the Trump administration’s use of the Alien Enemies Act has been challenged in the nation's highest court.  

 

Last week, the Supreme Court allowed Trump to use the authority but required that migrants must be given prior notice and an opportunity to challenge their removal in a federal court where they are detained, according to the CNN report.

 

In their latest appeal, the migrants' lawyers argued that officials have not complied with the notice requirement.  

 

"The government's actions to-date, including its lightning-fast timeline, do not give members of the proposed class a realistic opportunity to contest their removal under the AEA," the lawyers stated, according to CNN.

 

(With agency inputs)