Tom Homan, the border czar for President Donald Trump, said in an interview Sunday that they will not defy court orders issued over challenges to the administration's invoking of the Alien Enemies Act to justify deporting undocumented migrants.
Venezuelan migrants were deported to El Salvador after Judge James Boasberg ordered the flights to turn around, saying the Alien Enemies Act did not apply to their case.
Homan said on ABC's "This Week" that a judge's order will not stop them from arresting people they believe to be public safety and national security threats, though he stressed they will abide by all court orders.
"We're going to continue to deport them from the United States," Homan said. "I don't care what that judges think. We're going to keep targeting the worst of the worst, which we've been doing since day one, and deporting them from the United States through the various laws on the book.
"We're not making this up. The Alien Enemies Act was actually a federal law, it's a statute, enacted by Congress and signed by a president. Now that's our litigation."
Homan also told "This Week" that those deported were members of Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan gang labeled a terrorist organization by the Trump administration, though some family members have disputed that, ABC News reported.
"That plane was full of people designated as terrorists," Homan said. "Every Venezuelan migrant on that flight was a TDA member based on numerous criminal investigations, on intelligence reports, and a lot of work by ICE officers."
Sam Barron ✉
Sam Barron has almost two decades of experience covering a wide range of topics including politics, crime and business.
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