The showdown between the Trump administration and federal judge James Boasberg over the deportation of Venezuelan immigrants escalated on Thursday after the D.C. court blasted a government filing as âwoefully insufficient.â
In a three-page order, an exasperated Boasberg chided the government for stonewalling his requests for information on the flights that deported Venezuelans to El Salvador over the weekend, even though he ordered those planes to turn back around.
The Trump administration invoked the Alien Enemies Act, a wartime authority, to deport Venezuelans it claimed were linked to the gang Tren de Aragua. Lawyers for those immigrants said their clients were denied due process.
Boasberg, whose impeachment has been called for by the MAGA movement alongside Trump, said he moved the deadline for the government to comply with his request after the administration said they were considering whether to invoke the state secrets privilege.
âIn an ex parte pleading delivered shortly after todayâs deadline, the government again evaded its obligations,â the judge wrote, noting that the government merely submitted a six-paragraph declaration from a regional official of Immigration and Customs Enforcement that contained the same general information about the deportation flights.
âThis is woefully insufficient,â Boasberg continued. âThe government cannot proffer a regional ICE official to attest to Cabinet-level discussions of the state-secrets privilege; indeed, his declaration on that point, not surprisingly, is based solely on his unsubstantiated âunderstand[ing].ââ
Boasberg ordered the government to submit a sworn declaration âby a person with direct involvement in the Cabinet-level discussions regarding invocation of the state-secrets privilegeâ by 10 a.m. on Friday.
By March 25, the judge added, the government must submit a declaration indicating whether or not it will invoke the state secrets privilege and file a brief explaining why it did not violate earlier orders from the court to turn the deportation flights around.
A lawyer for soccer player Jerce Reyes Barrios, one of the Venezuelans who got deported, said he entered the U.S. legally. The Trump administration accused Barrios of gang affiliation because he had a tattoo inspired by Real Madrid, a soccer team widely adored in Latin America, and because he posed with a rock-and-roll hand gesture in an old photo, the lawyer said.
Trump went on a fresh Truth Social frenzy against Boasberg Thursday evening, accusing the judge of chasing fame following the release of the order.
âJudge James Boasberg is doing everything in his power to usurp the Power of the Presidency,â he said. âHe is a local, unknown Judge, a Grandstander, looking for publicity, and it cannot be for any other reason, because his âRulingsâ are so ridiculous, and inept. SAVE AMERICA!â
In a separate, lengthier post, Trump called once again for an end to nationwide injunctions and dismissed judges' rulings against his administration as âdangerous and incorrect.â
âIt is our goal to MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN, and such a high aspiration can never be done if Radical and Highly Partisan Judges are allowed to stand in the way of JUSTICE,â he wrote. âSTOP NATIONWIDE INJUNCTIONS NOW, BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE. If Justice Roberts and the United States Supreme Court do not fix this toxic and unprecedented situation IMMEDIATELY, our Country is in very serious trouble!â
Trump earlier flamed Boasberg as a âradical left lunaticâ in a Truth Social post calling for the judgeâs impeachment.
In a rare statement, Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts rebuked Trumpâs meltdown earlier this week.
âFor more than two centuries, it has been established that impeachment is not an appropriate response to disagreement concerning a judicial decision. The normal appellate review process exists for that purpose,â Roberts said, sending MAGAworld into a crisis.
