It Is Happening Every Day, Every Where
The court papers suggest that the administration has set a low bar for seeking the removal of the Venezuelan migrants, whom officials have described as belonging to the street gang, Tren de Aragua.
The Trump administration asked the justices to allow it to use a wartime law to continue deportations of Venezuelans with little or no due process.
In the Trump era, the definition of an official secret depends on whatever works best for the president.
The administration is invoking an extraordinary national security power, the state secrets privilege, under highly unusual circumstances.
By citing the act, the administration seems to be highlighting its aggressive posture without taking steps that might be deemed to violate a temporary restraining order issued by a federal judge.
Judge James E. Boasberg’s order says that the Venezuelan immigrants should have the opportunity to challenge the accusation by the Trump administration that they are members of a gang.
The Venezuelan government attributed a willingness to receive the flights to the plight of Venezuelan migrants sent to notorious prisons in El Salvador with little to no due process.
A hearing on Friday afternoon could also include some discussion about the Justice Department’s repeated recalcitrance in responding to the judge’s demands.
To invoke wartime deportation powers, President Trump asserted that Venezuela’s government controls a gang. U.S. intelligence analysts think that is not true.
Officials have said most of the people sent to the U.S. base are members of a Venezuelan gang but have not offered evidence to support that claim.