Attorney General Pam Bondi declared Wednesday that the judge who ordered the return of deportation flights last weekend had “no right” to be “meddling in our government.”
On Fox News’ The Will Cain Show, Bondi said her lawyers are working on appealing the ruling by U.S District Judge James Boasberg, whose decision resulted in Donald Trump demanding his impeachment.
The president’s call in turn drew a scolding from Supreme Court Justice John Roberts.
“Our lawyers are working on this. We will answer appropriately,” Bondi said, in light of Boasberg’s Thursday deadline to respond to questions about the flights. “But what I will tell you is this judge has no right to ask those questions.”
“They’re meddling in foreign affairs. They’re meddling in our government,” she went on. “And the question should be: Why is a judge trying to protect terrorists who have invaded our country over American citizens?”
The government has argued that those on board the flights were members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua.
Boasberg’s order wasn’t heeded, Justice Department lawyers told him in court Monday, because he had given a verbal order and by the time he had submitted a written order, it was too late. That, Boasberg replied, was “a heck of a stretch.”
Bondi insisted that the administration will “honor” the court’s ruling, but deportations will continue.
“We are going to deport them, and we’re going to continue to deport them. We will honor what the court says, but we will appeal, and we will continue to fight terrorists within our country,” she said.
