A US federal judge has questioned why the Trump administration failed to obey his order halting the deportations of alleged Venezuelan gang members.
White House officials argued in a court filing that they did not defy the ruling. The argued in part that because Boasberg’s order was made orally rather than in written form, it was not enforceable - and that the planes had already left the US by the time it was issued.
During a hearing on Monday, Boasberg said he clearly ordered the government to turn the planes around. “You’re saying that you felt you could disregard it because it wasn’t in a written order?” he asked Department of Justice lawyers.
After lawyers told the judge that planes with deportees already had taken off, he reportedly gave a verbal order for the flights to turn back “immediately”, although that directive was not included in a written ruling published shortly thereafter. Nonetheless, a timeline of events reported by US media suggests the Trump administration had the opportunity to stop at least some of the deportations.
Under the US system of checks and balances, government agencies are expected to comply with a federal judge’s ruling.
El Salvador has agreed to accept the deportees from the US.
The country’s president, Nayib Bukele, appeared to mock the judge’s ruling.
“Oopsie… Too late,” he posted on social media, along with a picture of a headline announcing the ruling and a ‘crying with laughter’ emoji.
His team also published footage of some of the detainees inside one of its mega-jails.
According to the White House, El Salvador’s government received $6m (£4.62m) to take the detainees, which Leavitt said “is pennies on the dollar” compared to the cost of holding inmates in US prisons.
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), which brought the lawsuit leading to the judge’s order, questioned Trump’s use of the Alien Enemies Act, a sweeping wartime authority that allows fast-track deportations.
“I think we’re in very dangerous territory here in the United States with the invocation of this law,” said the ACLU’s Lee Gelernt.
The Alien Enemies Act only allowed deportations when the US was in a declared war with that foreign government, or was being invaded, Mr Gelernt said.
“A gang is not invading,” he told BBC News.
Making matters worse was the fact “the administration is saying nobody can review what they’re doing”, Mr Gelernt added.
Stop questioning. Start arresting.
Who exactly would do the arresting? Do you see all those pigs in the photos? This whole thing is like a cops wet dream.
Remember that there is no order too vile or reprehensible for the police to follow and every nasty law throughout history was ultimately enforced by the police.
Under the US system of checks and balances, government agencies are expected to comply with a federal judge’s ruling.
Or what, “or else?” Or else, what?
Questioned it? I think it’s pretty clear that fascists don’t care about the law
According to the White House, El Salvador’s government received $6m (£4.62m) to take the detainees
Ahhh, that’s the part I was missing. I thought the Central American govts caved awfully fast after initially protesting the deportations. This is going to get ugly, if they’re basically being turned into a revenue-stream. El Salv will need to ensure they make a profit of some sort on that 6m.
It’s 6 million to keep them there for one year. That’s what was agreed upon, so it likely won’t be the last payment they receive for these deportees.
I see, thank you for the detail.
The argued in part that because Boasberg’s order was made orally rather than in written form
Some god dammed sov cit shit.
If laws and the constitution are not or can not be enforced, they are mere “optional guidelines” for these people to ignore. Either you take action against blatantly illegal actions, or you might just as well welcome your next dictator with some presents, right now already actually, because it won’t get any better when they already start ignoring laws/constitution right now. It’s a pure downward spiral from there, and it sends a clear signal to the administration and all of its allies that laws are optional right now. Also, regular people would already be fined/jailed/shot for doing 0.000001% of the wrongdoings of this administration. If there is such a thing like an actual justice system and a system of checks and balances in the US, then wake it the fuck up or it dies in its sleep. Much sooner than later.
