Napolitano to Newsmax: Hearing Mandate for Venezuelans Correct

Retired Judge Andrew Napolitano told Newsmax on Monday that he agrees with a federal judge's decision to block the deportation of Venezuelan migrants without hearings, calling the opinion "superb" and grounded in constitutional protections.

Napolitano, senior judicial analyst, and former New Jersey Superior Court judge, voiced support for U.S. District Judge James Boasberg's ruling that bars the federal government from deporting Venezuelan migrants under the Alien Enemies Act without due process.

Appearing on "Carl Higbie FRONTLINE," Napolitano said Boasberg's decision upholds the legal standard that migrants cannot be removed from the United States without an individualized hearing to assess potential gang affiliations or threats.

"I read his 30-page opinion this morning, which came out about an hour before the appellate court that's going to review it," Napolitano said. "Unusual, but he got it out there. I thought it was superb."

The ruling, issued earlier Monday, declined to lift a restraining order preventing the Trump administration from using the 1798-era Alien Enemies Act to deport Venezuelan nationals immediately. Boasberg concluded that migrants are likely to prevail on claims they are entitled to hearings before removal, according to reports by The Hill.

The Alien Enemies Act allows deportation of noncitizens without a court hearing. Trump labeled the Tren de Aragua gang an invading force, a predicate to removal.

Napolitano emphasized that Boasberg's ruling did not restrict presidential authority entirely but limited the circumstances under which migrants could be deported without due process.

"It doesn't say the president can't arrest them. It doesn't say the president can't restrain them," he said. "It just says the president can't kick them out of the country without giving them a hearing because half of them say, not only are we not gang members, we fled this gang in Venezuela. … We got here illegally, but we did so to save our lives."

"You want to get them the hell out, give them a hearing," Napolitano added. "You don't want the hearing — you can only do that procedure when we're at war with the country from which they came."

In clarifying the implications of Boasberg's decision, Napolitano noted that while some of the migrants may have been held in U.S. custody awaiting hearings, others have already been deported.

"Now they're gone, now they're in this hellhole," he said. "And according to their lawyers, half of them don't belong there."

Asked about the Trump administration's frequent legal clashes over executive actions — surpassing those of former President Barack Obama and Joe Biden combined — Napolitano attributed it to a more aggressive governing style.

"Well, that's because he's been very, very aggressive with his executive orders," he said. "He's issued probably more — I don't know the numbers — in three months than those guys issued in four years. Doesn't mean he's wrong; it just means he's exposing himself to a challenge, and he'll defend those challenges."

Information from the Associated Press was used in this story.

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