Judge: WH Evaded Deadline For Deportation Flight Info

A federal judge in Washington, D.C., has accused the Trump administration of evading his demands for information on deportation flights of criminal illegal immigrants.

U.S. District Judge James Boasberg, a Barack Obama appointee, wrote in a three-page order that the Department of Justice refused to meet his Thursday deadline to hand over flight information regarding the deportation of Venezuelan gang members of Tren de Aragua, a U.S.-designated foreign terrorist organization, following President Donald Trump's proclamation under the 1798 Alien Enemies Act that they were part of an invading force.

Boasberg alleged the administration instead submitted a declaration from an Immigrations and Customs Enforcement official informing that "Cabinet Secretaries are currently actively considering whether to invoke the state secrets privilege," The Hill reported.

The state secrets privilege, established through a series of Supreme Court decisions, allows the government to protect sensitive national security information from being disclosed in civil litigation. The American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit after Trump's proclamation of the Alien Enemies Act and the deportation flights began.

Thursday's decision came after Boasberg ordered the government to privately provide more details about the flights in a sealed filing, saying he again rebuffed by the Trump administration, according to The Hill.

"The Government again evaded its obligations," Boasberg wrote, noting the filing from the ICE official included the same information about the flights. "This is woefully insufficient. To begin, the Government cannot proffer a regional ICE official to attest to Cabinet-level discussions of the state-secrets privilege."

He ordered the Trump administration to provide an update from someone directly involved in the discussions by Friday.

Boasberg on Saturday gave oral and written orders that the government turn around or halt flights carrying Venezuelan migrants removed under the Alien Enemies Act. The DOJ argued it complied with Boasberg's written order, suggesting they did not have to comply with the oral order, according to The Hill. The DOJ also has argued the matter was irrelevant because the flights were already out of U.S. territory by the time Boasberg's order landed on the docket.

Boasberg demanded more information about the timing of the flights and who was on board so he can investigate whether the Trump administration defied his rulings, but the DOJ has declined to do so. The DOJ also has declined to give Boasberg a rationale about why it believes he is not authorized to disclose information about the flights.

"The Government maintains that there is no justification to order the provision of additional information, and that doing so would be inappropriate," the DOJ wrote in a court filing Tuesday.

The White House said Boasberg has no oversight over national security matters.

"The President is well within his Article II power and his authority under the Alien Enemies Act to make these decisions," White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters Thursday. "And we think it's egregious that a single district judge is trying to tell the president of the United States who he can and cannot deport from our soil, especially when it comes to designated foreign terrorists."