A court hearing over the Trump administration’s defiance of a court order halting deportation of alleged Venezuelan gang members will move forward Monday evening despite the Justice Department’s objections.
The big picture: The Trump administration’s decision to disregard the judge’s order sets up a high stakes battle between the power of the executive and judicial branches.
Driving the news: The Department of Justice on Monday asked to cancel a hearing in the case scheduled for later that afternoon, stating it would not be providing any more information about the flights.
- U.S. District Judge James Boasberg denied the request, and the hearing is scheduled for 5pm ET Monday.
Catch up quick: The president invoked the Alien Enemies Act of 1789 on Friday night but intentionally did not advertise it, Axios’ Marc Caputo reported.
- Word of the order leaked Saturday morning, prompting a scramble to get planes off the ground for the deportation of about 250 Venezuelans under the 18th century law, which allows the government to detain and remove immigrants with little to no due process during war time.
- Though Trump has referred to illegal immigration as an “invasion,” Congress had not declared a war.
- During a court hearing hours later, Boasberg ordered a halt to the deportations, saying any flights should be turned around mid-air.
- The White House did not order the flights to turn around, ignoring Boasberg’s order. The administration has argued the flights were over international waters and therefore outside of the court’s jurisdiction.
What they’re saying: The ACLU asked the court Monday to direct the government to submit sworn declarations clarifying whether the flights took off or landed after the court’s order.
- “Whether or not the planes had cleared U.S. territory, the U.S. retained custody at least until the planes landed and the individuals were turned over to foreign governments,” the ACLU said in its filing.
- “The Court could not have been clearer that it was concerned with losing jurisdiction and authority to order the individuals returned if they were handed over to foreign governments,” they added.
State of play: White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement over the weekend that the judge’s order had “no lawful basis” and “was issued after terrorist TdA aliens had already been removed from U.S. territory.”
- President Trump’s border czar Tom Homan on Monday doubled down on the decision, claiming the flights did not need to be turned around because they were already above international waters when the order came through.
- “We are not stopping,” he said. “I don’t care what the judges think.”
Go deeper: Trump’s border czar: “I don’t care what the judges think”
