A judge barred the removal of Venezuelan gang members from the United States because he does not believe an 18th century wartime declaration applies, former New Jersey Superior Court Judge Andrew Napolitano told Newsmax Monday.
U.S. District Judge James E. Boasberg issued an order Saturday temporarily blocking the deportations, but lawyers told him there were already two planes with immigrants in the air — one headed for El Salvador, the other for Honduras. Boasberg verbally ordered the planes be turned around, but they apparently were not, and he did not include the directive in his written order.
"It is admittedly unusual for a judge to order the military to turn a plane around mid-flight, but the court does have the authority to do so," Napolitano told Newsmax's "National Report."
The Alien Enemies Act of 1798 said the president can deport an enemy alien without a hearing, Napolitano explained, with Congress defining an enemy as the agent of a foreign government with which the United States is at war.
"Because we're not at war with Venezuela, the judge found that the Trump administration needs another basis to deport them.
"The president says what this gang of thugs is doing in America is the moral equivalent of war. The judge is saying, Well, no, the statute defines what war is, and it's got to be war from a country from which they came, not a war waged by a gang of thugs. If they're thugs, arrest them, try them, deport them."
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
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