DOJ Argues 'Court Lacks the Jurisdiction' After Judge Blocks Trump Use of Alien Enemies Act

DOJ Argues ‘Court Lacks the Jurisdiction’ After Judge Blocks Trump Use of Alien Enemies Act Andrew Harnik/Getty Images The Department of Justice (DOJ) responded to U.S. District Judge James Boasberg blocking President Donald Trump’s usage of the Alien Enemies Act to deport suspected members of the Venezuelan gang, Tren de Aragua (TdA), saying the “court lack the jurisdiction” to interfere.

In a legal filing, Attorney General Pam Bondi called for the court to “vacate the hearing and de-escalate the grave incursions on Executive Branch authority that have already arisen.” Fox News’s Bill Melugin noted that the judge “denied the Trump admin’s motion to vacate/cancel the hearing.”

“Plaintiffs cannot use these proceedings to interfere with the President’s national-security and foreign-affairs authority, and the Court lacks the jurisdiction to do so,” the DOJ wrote. “In response to Plaintiffs’ filing (Dkt. 21) and this Court’s order setting a hearing for this afternoon, the government submits the below response. Because it provides the necessary information to confirm the government’s compliance, the represents the full extent of what counsel is authorized to share with the public or Plaintiffs, the Court should vacate the hearing and de-escalate the grave incursions on Executive Branch authority that have already arisen.”

The DOJ’s filing calling for the hearing to be vacated came in response to Boasberg ordering the Trump administration to halt the deportations of Venezuelan migrants after the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and Democracy Forward filed a joint lawsuit on behalf of five Venezuelan migrants.

Breitbart News’s John Binder reported the lawsuit came “soon after Trump invoked the Alien Enemies Act and had loaded nearly 300 illegal alien gang members associated with” TdA and Ms-13 on plane to be deported:

Soon after Trump invoked the Alien Enemies Act and had loaded nearly 300 illegal alien gang members associated with Tren de Aragua and Ms-13 — both designated terrorist organizations — onto deportation flights to El Salvador, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and Democracy Forward filed a lawsuit to stop the administration.

The DOJ continued in the filing to note that the “government complied with the Court’s temporary restraining order issued during the morning of March 15, and did not remove any of the five individual plaintiffs”:

As the government has already explained and Plaintiffs do not appear to dispute, the government complied with the Court’s temporary restraining order issued during the morning of March 15, and did not remove any of the five individual plaintiffs. The government did so despite its powerful jurisdictional and other objections to the Court’s unprecedented assertion of judicial power to review the Proclamation. Cf. Ludecke v. Watkins , 335 U.S. 160, 164 (1948) (explaining that the “very nature of the President’s power to order the removal of all enemy aliens rejects the notion that courts may pass judgement upon the exercise of his discretion”).

As Breitbart News reported, Trump invoked the 1798 Alien Enemies Act, which allows for the expedited removal of migrants who are suspected gang members.

In response to Boasberg’s order, Bondi criticized him in a statement to supporting “Tren de Aragua terrorists over the safety of Americans.”

“This order disregards well-established authority regarding President Trump’s power, and it puts the public and law enforcement at risk,” Bondi wrote. “The Department of Justice is undeterred in its efforts to work with the White House, the Department of Homeland Security, and all of our partners to stop this invasion and Make America Safe Again.”