SiriusXM’s Megyn Kelly said Tuesday evening on her show that U.S. District Judge James E. Boasberg, who “thinks he’s president,” is bringing the country closer to a “constitutional crisis” over his battle to stop President Donald Trump from deporting migrants under the Alien Enemies Act of 1798.
A court battle between Trump’s Department of Justice (DOJ) and Boasberg has been ongoing since Saturday after Trump deported over 200 suspected gang members, with the judge placing a temporary halt on the deportation the same day. On “The Megyn Kelly Show,” Kelly highlighted how both Trump and border czar Tom Homan confirmed that the migrants on the planes being deported to El Salvador were gang members, before ripping into the judge for “losing his mind” over Trump’s authority.
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“Trump says these are gang members. Tom Homan says ‘They’re gang members. We’ve done our homework. That’s who they are. We are shipping them out of the country with a ride.’ I mean, we’re being courteous to them, giving them a ride, although it ends in El Salvador to prison, which is generally where gang members wind up, whether it’s domestically or internationally,” Kelly said.
“This judge is losing his mind that Trump is not doing everything he’s commanding him to do,” Kelly added. “This is the closest thing we’ve seen yet to a constitutional crisis. You know how the left has been throwing that term around? And it’s not because of Trump. It’s because of a judge who thinks he’s the president.”
Trump announced Saturday that he would invoke the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 against the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua (TdA), leading to the deportation of over 200 suspected members. However, Boasberg attempted to halt the deportations that same day before calling an emergency hearing, where he expanded his order to state that “all noncitizens in U.S. custody” were not to be deported.
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According to CBS News, Boasberg verbally suggested that deportation flights should be returned, but it was not included in his written order.
“This Judge Boasberg is speaking to Donald Trump as though he’s the judge’s underling, his clerk, who needs to run around answering the judge’s every little question. This is foreign policy,” Kelly added. “This is where Trump is at the apex of his power, which Judge Boasberg doesn’t seem to understand.”
Court filings on Tuesday said that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement official Robert Cerna, from the field office in Harlingen, Texas, confirmed that two planes carrying migrants departed before Boasberg’s written order was published at 7:25 p.m., NPR News reported. A third plane reportedly took off after the order was issued, but the individuals on board were not deported “solely on the basis of the Proclamation at issue” and had final orders of removal regardless.
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El Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele confirmed on Sunday morning that they had received 238 members of TdA, who were “immediately transferred to CECOT, the Terrorism Confinement Center, for a period of one year (renewable).” Additionally, Bukele said the U.S. had also sent “23 MS-13 members wanted by Salvadoran justice, including two ringleaders.”
“This is so out of order, what the judge is doing. With the third flight, that’s the one we’re not sure whether that took flight after the judge ordered it not to, whatever,” Kelly said. “All of this is extrajudicial behavior because the Alien Enemies Act says he doesn’t get to review presidential declarations under that act, all right?”
Boasberg has since ordered the DOJ to answer his questions regarding the deportations, but the department refused Tuesday.
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In a court filing, the DOJ stated, “The Government maintains that there is no justification to order the provision of additional information,” adding that responding to the judge would “disclose sensitive information bearing on national security and foreign relations.”
Boasberg gave the DOJ until Wednesday at noon to submit its responses in a sealed court filing, according to NBC News.
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First published by the Daily Caller News Foundation.
