The Trump administration’s defiance of a federal judge’s order to stop deporting Venezuelan migrants to El Salvador has triggered a constitutional crisis, with the president and his top officials arguing that judges cannot control foreign relations.
On Friday, planes carrying hundreds of migrants were flown to El Salvador despite a judge’s order to halt the deportations. The White House Press Secretary, Karoline Leavitt, told Fox News that judges cannot “determine the way in which the president handles foreign relations.” Attorney General Pam Bondi accused the judge of attempting to meddle in national security and foreign affairs.
The administration has long plotted to use the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to expel migrants from the US. The law is meant for wartime, but Trump officials have invoked it as a way to justify deporting people without due process.
In recent months, the administration has defied court orders on multiple occasions, including pressuring organizations to sign revised contracts and ignoring federal grants. This latest move marks a significant escalation of the administration’s defiance of the courts, with senior officials warning that judges cannot rein them in.
The administration’s approach is to “move fast” – both to execute actions before the law can catch up and to intimidate judges into backing down. Critics argue that this approach amounts to obstruction of justice and potential contempt of court.
As one close Trump adviser put it, the president’s leverage over judges is based on the idea that only the executive branch has the power to deploy military force. This sets a worrying precedent for the administration’s relationship with the judiciary and raises concerns about the rule of law in the US.
Source: https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/inside-team-trump-attack-judges-defiance-court-orders-1235298463