The Trump administration suggested Wednesday it may go to further lengths to hide details about controversial deportation flights to El Salvador that could conflict with a federal court order—which the government denies—saying in a court filing the government is considering designating some information about the flights as “state secrets.”
More than 250 suspected gang members arrive in El Salvador by plane from the U.S. in San Salvador, ... [+]
Judge James Boasberg has asked the Trump administration to clarify details about two deportation flights Saturday, which landed in El Salvador after Boasberg issued an order blocking the government from deporting any migrants under an executive order invoking the Alien Enemies Act—and said during a hearing any flights in midair should be turned around.
The Trump administration has declined to provide specific information about the flights, insisting it is unnecessary because the government complied with Boasberg’s written order, which came out after the flights were already out of U.S. airspace—an argument the judge has so far not been persuaded by.
Boasberg asked the government to answer questions about the flights by noon EDT Wednesday, but the Trump administration filed an emergency request seeking to halt the deadline, asserting the government did not violate the court’s order and claiming Boasberg’s questions about the flight are “grave encroachments on core aspects of absolute and unreviewable Executive Branch authority.”
The Trump administration argued it should not have to answer questions about the flights on such a tight deadline because it’s considering whether to keep details about the flights hidden under the “state secrets privilege,” which keeps the government from having to disclose information that could harm national security.
Officials also claimed they should not have to provide information about the flights because an appeals court could rule soon on throwing out Boasberg’s order blocking the deportations, also alleging the information is unnecessary to whether the government complied with the order and the court is “seeking information about a past event to which the Government has already spoken and which has no salience to the Plaintiffs’ claims.”
Trump officials claim details on the flights—which the plaintiffs have noted were documented on public flight tracking sites—could “create serious repercussions for the Executive Branch’s ability to conduct foreign affairs” and have a “chilling effect” on other countries’ “willingness to work with the United States.”
Boasberg has asked the Trump administration to provide information about what times the flights that left for El Salvador took off from the U.S., what time they left U.S. airspace and what time they landed, including if the flights made multiple stops. He also requested information on what time any individuals deported under President Donald Trump’s Alien Enemies Act order were transferred out of U.S. custody, and how many people were on the flights that were only being deported because of Trump’s executive order.
Boasberg is likely to rule imminently on whether to scrap his noon deadline for the government providing information about the flights, as the Trump administration has asked. The judge has scheduled a hearing in the case for Friday afternoon, at which it could become more clear how the case will play out from here and if Boasberg could take steps like trying to hold officials in contempt for defying his order. Citing anonymous sources, Axios reports the Trump administration is aiming to take its legal fight to the Supreme Court. The White House reportedly hopes the 6-3 conservative court will issue a ruling that broadly permits the Trump administration to deport immigrants under the Alien Enemies Act—which gives President Donald Trump much broader power to deport anyone from countries deemed to be adversarial to the U.S.—and bar federal judges from controlling flights already over international waters. The Trump administration is also reportedly hoping to get the Supreme Court to rule against federal district judges having the power to issue rulings that block an entire policy nationwide, as Trump allies have broadly decried Boasberg and other judges’ ability to unilaterally block the administration’s policies.
“The Court has now spent more time trying to ferret out information about the Government’s flight schedules and relations with foreign countries than it did in investigating the facts before certifying the class action in this case,” the Trump administration wrote in its filing, which was signed by Attorney General Pam Bondi and other DOJ officials and accuses the court of “digressive micromanagement.” “The Government respects this Court and has complied with its request to present the Government’s position on the legality of the Court’s [order blocking the deportations] and the Government’s compliance with that [order],” the officials continued. “The Government now asks the Court to accord it the same respect as a coequal branch.”
Trump signed his executive order invoking the Alien Enemies Act on Saturday afternoon, broadly ordering his administration to deport alleged members of Tren de Aragua. The gang is a Venezuelan-based criminal organization that has spread into the U.S., committing alleged crimes including drug trafficking, sex trafficking and cell phone and retail theft, though attorneys and some family members of those deported to El Salvador allege some of them were not actually members of the gang. Boasberg said during a hearing Saturday evening, at approximately 6:45 p.m. EDT, he was blocking Trump’s executive order with immediate effect, then issuing a written order at 7:26 p.m. Secretary of State Marco Rubio revealed Sunday morning that more than 250 alleged members of Tren de Aragua had nonetheless been deported to El Salvador, however, setting off a scramble to determine whether the Trump administration had defied Boasberg’s order. Boasberg expressed skepticism at a hearing Monday about the Trump administration’s claims that it complied with his orders, as the government alleged the judge didn’t have jurisdiction over the planes once they left U.S. airspace and only his written order, not his verbal order during the hearing, carried any legal weight. The judge characterized the government’s position as “We don’t care; we’ll do what we want,” as quoted by Just Security. The White House has strongly hit back against Boasberg in response to the tussle over whether it complied with the court order and claimed the judge does not have authority to dictate Trump’s immigration authority, with the president calling Tuesday for the Obama-appointed judge to be impeached. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Sunday, "A single judge in a single city cannot direct the movements of an aircraft carrier full of foreign alien terrorists who were physically expelled from U.S. soil.”