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US President Donald Trump on Friday dismissed accusations that he invoked a two-century-old law to facilitate the deportation of suspected Venezuelan gang members who had completed prison sentences in El Salvador.
Hours after a federal judge labeled President Donald Trump’s application of a centuries-old law as deeply problematic, Trump sought to distance himself from the decision. The critique came from U.S. District Chief Judge James Boasberg in Washington, who, during a Friday hearing, called Trump’s use of the Alien Enemies Act (AEA) of 1798 to deport 238 alleged Venezuelan gang members “incredibly troublesome.”
The previous weekend, Trump had activated the rarely used wartime statute to expel the men—whom his administration identified as members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua—sending them to a maximum-security facility in El Salvador. The White House press secretary at the time issued a statement confirming that Trump had personally signed a proclamation invoking the AEA, a document later recorded in the Federal Register bearing his signature.
But on Friday, Trump shifted the narrative, suggesting to reporters that the move stemmed more from his Secretary of State than himself. “I don’t know when it was signed because I didn’t sign it. Other people handled it,” he claimed. Praising Marco Rubio, Trump added, “Marco Rubio has done a great job and he wanted them out and we go along with that.”
Earlier that day, Judge Boasberg had scrutinized the legal grounding of the deportation effort. He questioned the appropriateness of wielding the AEA—a law historically employed only during the War of 1812, World War I, and World War II, each tied to a formal declaration of war—to bypass standard immigration processes and dispatch the Venezuelans without individual hearings. “The policy ramifications of this are incredibly troublesome and problematic and concerning,” Boasberg stated.
The judge’s remarks followed his emergency order the previous weekend, which aimed to halt the deportations and directed two flights already airborne to return. The Justice Department countered that the planes had crossed into international airspace by the time Boasberg’s written order was issued, arguing that his jurisdiction no longer extended to them.
The episode earned Trump’s ire and the Republican president called on Tuesday for Boasberg’s impeachment, branding the judge a “troublemaker and agitator.”
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Those remarks by Trump drew a rare public rebuke from Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts who said “impeachment is not an appropriate response to disagreement concerning a judicial decision.”
Lee Gelernt, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), which joined other rights organizations in challenging the deportations through legal action, pointed out that even during World War II, individuals received hearings under the Alien Enemies Act. He stressed that those proceedings were not marked by the kind of swift, unilateral removals seen in this case. “You have to be able to contest,” Gelernt argued, warning that without such safeguards, “anyone could be taken off the street.”
Lawyers representing several of the deported Venezuelans have asserted that their clients were not affiliated with the Tren de Aragua gang, had no criminal records, and were singled out solely based on their tattoos. These claims fuel the contention that the government’s actions lacked due process.
At Friday’s hearing, Judge James Boasberg expressed frustration with the government’s stance, remarking that “the government’s not being terribly cooperative at this point.” He vowed to investigate further, stating, “I will get to the bottom of whether they violated my order,” signaling his determination to probe the Justice Department’s claim that the deportation flights were beyond his jurisdiction once they entered international airspace.
