Venezuelan alleged gang members deported to El Salvador
The Trump administration has deported 238 Venezuelans to El Salvador via a 1798 law despite a judge’s order.
WASHINGTON − The growing clash between President Donald Trump and the judiciary took a major turn Tuesday as Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts delivered a rare rebuke after Trump called for the impeachment of a federal judge.
“For more than two centuries, it has been established that impeachment is not an appropriate response to disagreement concerning a judicial decision,” Roberts said in a statement. “The normal appellate review process exists for that purpose.”
Roberts’ comment came after Trump on Tuesday called for the impeachment of a federal judge who tried to stop the Republican administration from deporting hundreds of alleged Venezuelan gang members via the Alien Enemies Act, a 1798 law last used during World War II.
Trump, in a social media post, referred to Chief U.S. Judge James Boasberg in Washington D.C., who was appointed by former President Barack Obama, as a “a troublemaker and agitator.”
Trump said unlike himself, the judge did not win all seven battleground states in the 2024 presidential election en route to an “OVERWHELMING MANDATE” that Trump said was centered on his promise to fight llegal immigration.
“I’m just doing what the VOTERS wanted me to do. This judge, like many of the Crooked Judges’ I am forced to appear before, should be IMPEACHED!!!” Trump said in his post on Truth Social. “WE DON’T WANT VICIOUS, VIOLENT, AND DEMENTED CRIMINALS, MANY OF THEM DERANGED MURDERERS, IN OUR COUNTRY. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!!!”
Boasberg tried to temporarily block deportation flights on Saturday through oral and written orders. But lawyers for the Venezuelans said two flights left Texas for Honduras and El Salvador.
Justice Department lawyers have refused the judge’s demand that they provide information about the flights.
Lee Gelernt, a lawyer for the American Civil Liberties Union which is representing the Venezuelans, said the administration appeared to have defied the judge’s order.
“There’s been a lot of talk during the last several weeks about a constitutional crisis, throwing that term around,” Gelernt said. “I think we’re getting very close to it.”
A Justice Department lawyer, Abhishek Kambli, told Boasberg his written order was not valid if it was issued after the flights had crossed into international territory. The Justice Department said the judge’s oral order was also unenforceable.
Trump is relying on the 1798 Alien Enemies Act for authority to remove the Venezuelans. The act allows the deportation of anyone from a designated enemy country who is not a naturalized citizen.
The administration argues the Venezuelans are members of a gang called Tren de Aragua and are a national security threat.
But Boasberg said the Alien Enemies Act does not “provide a basis for the president’s proclamation given that the terms invasion, predatory incursion really relate to hostile acts perpetrated by any nation and commensurate to war.”