The president of the United States, Donald Trump, asked the Supreme Court on Friday to raise a temporary order that prevented him from using a 1798 law to quickly deport the members of Venezuelan gangs as part of the hard line approach of his two -month administration for immigration.
The Department of Justice in a presentation asked the Court to lift the order of the United States district judge based in Washington, James Boasberg of March, asking for a temporary stop of the summarized removals of Venezuelans, while a legal challenge to Trump’s invocation of the Alien Enemies Law to justify deportations takes place.
The law of the 18th century has historically been used only in times of war.
The Department of Justice said in its presentation on Friday that the case presents the question of who decides how to carry out sensitive operations related to national security, the president or the Judiciary.
“The Constitution provides a clear response: the president,” the department wrote. “The Republic cannot afford a different option.”
The United States Court of Appeals for the Circuit of the Columbia district confirmed on Wednesday the temporary block of the judge as the procedures continue in the case. The dispute has caused Trump’s complaints to federal courts, which have issued dozens of decisions that prevent parts of Trump’s agenda.
Trump invoked the Alien enemies law on March 15 to quickly deport the alleged members of the Aragua train gang, trying to accelerate removals with a better known law for their use to interview Japanese, Italian and German immigrants during World War II.
In a legal challenge managed by the American Union of Civil Libertads, a group of Venezuelan men in the custody of the US immigration authorities the same day demanded on behalf of themselves and others located similarly, seeking to block deportations.
They argued, among other things, that Trump’s order exceeded his powers because the alien enemies law authorizes removals only when the war or the United States has been declared has been invaded.
The law of alien enemies authorizes the president to deport, stop or place restrictions on persons whose main loyalty is a foreign power and that could represent a risk of national security in times of war. Boasberg, appointed by Democratic President Barack Obama, temporarily blocked deportations.
But the Trump administration allowed two airplanes that are already in the air to continue to El Salvador, where US officials delivered 238 Venezuelan men to the Salvadoran authorities to be placed in the “Center for Confinement of Terrorism of the Central Americans.
The judge has also analyzed whether the Trump administration violated his order by not returning deportation flights after his order was issued. The lawyers of the Department of Justice said the flights had left the United States airspace when Boasberg issued a written order and, therefore, were not obliged to return.
They ruled out the weight of the spoken order of Boasberg during an audience two hours before, asking that any plane that would transport those deportees turn around. Trump’s administration has argued that Boasberg’s temporary prohibition invaded the presidential authority to make national security decisions.
On March 18, Trump requested the accusation of Boasberg by Congress, a process that could eliminate it from banking, taking out a rebuke of the president of the United States, John Roberts.
Trump on social networks called Boasberg, who was confirmed by the United States Senate in 2011 in a bipartisan vote of 96-0, a “radical left lunatic” and a “fuss and agitator.”
The DC circuit confirmed the Basberg order after holding a contentious audience that involved a heated language. Judge Patricia Millett told the lawyer of the Justice Department, Drew Ensign, “the Nazis obtained a better treatment under the alien enemies law of what has happened here.”
Ensign replied: “We certainly play the Nazi analogy.”
The family members of many of the deported Venezuelan immigrants deny the alleged gang ties. The lawyers of one of the deportees, a Venezuelan professional football player and youth coach, said that US officials erroneously described him as a member of a gang based on a tattoo of a crown aimed at honoring his favorite team, Real Madrid.
Trump says he had a “productive call” with the Canadian prime minister
Trump said he had a productive call on Friday with the Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and that the two leaders would meet after the Canadian elections, which is scheduled for next month in the midst of major tensions among neighboring allies.
“It was an extremely productive call, we agree on many things and we will meet immediately after the next Canadian elections to work on politics, businesses and all other factors,” Trump wrote on his Social Network Platform Truth Social.
That work “will end up being excellent for both the United States and Canada,” he added.
Carney and his office have not yet published their opinion on the call, which occurs one day after the new leader promised to transform Canada’s economy to depend less on the United States and before the Trump fees announcement expected on April 2.
The United States and its northern neighbor have been allies and commercial partners for a long time. But relationships have deteriorated after Trump, a Republican who assumed the position in January, changed the relationship with tariff threats and repeated comments on making it state 51 of the United States.
