Stephen Miller has called on Congress to “step up” and abolish the Washington, D.C., federal district court after it blocked President Donald Trump’s deportations to a Salvadoran mega prison.
During the Trump aide’s appearance on the Fox News show Life, Liberty and Levin, host Mark Levin said he thought the Republican Congress should get rid of the D.C. court by eliminating its federal funding during the budget reconciliation process.
“Congress has the authority to create the inferior courts,” Miller agreed. “They have the authority to fund or not fund these courts. So yes, Congress has to step up here.”
House Speaker Mike Johnson had previously threatened to eliminate entire district courts if judges issued rulings against the Trump administration.
“As you know, we can eliminate an entire district court. We have power over funding, over the courts, and all these other things,” he said at a press conference in late March. “Desperate times call for desperate measures, and Congress is going to act.”
Republicans are furious that judges nationwide have issued temporary orders blocking many of Trump’s 100-plus executive orders, which in many cases could exceed his presidential authority, according to the rulings.
In one case, Trump had invoked the Alien Enemies Act—which applies only when the U.S. is officially at war with a foreign government—to justify deporting alleged members of the Venezuelan Tren de Aragua gang.
But Judge James Boasberg temporarily blocked the deportations, pointing out that the U.S. was not at war. More than 250 men were nevertheless flown to El Salvador without being granted court hearings first. (The third-party country had agreed to jail the detained Venezuelans for a fee.)
It later turned out at least one alleged gang member had legal protective status and had been deported due to an administrative error.
Another had already been granted refugee status, while others—including a pro soccer player, a gay makeup artist, a 26-year-old barber, and a 24-year-old father—were all formally seeking asylum. A 60 Minutes investigation found the vast majority of the 250 men who were jailed—75 percent—did not have criminal records.
On Friday, a federal judge ruled that the man who was mistakenly deported—Maryland father of three Kilmar Abrego Garcia—had to be brought back to the U.S. by midnight Monday.
The Trump administration has signaled it might not follow the order. The government claims it doesn’t have the authority to bring Abrego Garcia home—even though it’s paying El Salvador millions of dollars to house him and the other deportees.
In the meantime, Miller is apparently holding out hope that Republicans won’t need to openly defy court orders or eliminate the federal courts. The administration has asked the Supreme Court to overturn the deportation ban and allow it to send people to foreign prisons without any legal proceedings.
“We would just implore the Supreme Court to do the right thing and protect our democracy,” Miller told Levin. “President Trump will not be bowed, will not be swayed, will not be deterred.”
In the meantime, Abrego Garcia and the other prisoners at CECOT are not allowed education, recreation, visitation, or phone calls, according to the BBC. They are kept in their cells for 23.5 hours a day and sleep on four levels of metal bunks with no mattresses or sheets.
The fluorescent lights remain on at all times.
