President Donald Trump stated Tuesday that his administration would comply with a federal judge’s order blocking migrant deportations but expressed confidence that the U.S. Supreme Court would ultimately rule in his favor.
The case centers on a temporary order issued by U.S. District Judge James E. Boasberg, who blocked the deportation of migrants on the same day Trump invoked the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 against Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua (TdA) and deported over 200 migrants to El Salvador.
The timing of the ruling and whether it applied to a flight reportedly already over international waters have since become points of legal contention between the Department of Justice (DOJ) and Boasberg.
During an interview on The Ingraham Angle, host Laura Ingraham asked Trump if he would defy a court order from Boasberg. “I never did defy a court order,” Trump responded. Pressed further, he stated that doing so “would not be allowed,” but criticized what he described as “bad judges” issuing politically motivated rulings. “The judge that we’re talking about, you look at his other rulings, I mean rulings unrelated, but having to do with me, he’s a lunatic.”
On Saturday evening, Boasberg expanded his temporary order to block the deportation of “all noncitizens in U.S. custody.” However, according to CBS News, he did not include language requiring any flights already in the air to return to the U.S.
The next morning, El Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele confirmed that his country had received 238 TdA gang members, who were immediately transferred to a high-security facility for at least one year. The U.S. also deported 23 MS-13 gang members wanted by Salvadoran authorities.
By Monday, Boasberg demanded clarification on whether the Trump administration had ignored his ruling. The DOJ, however, declined to provide additional details, arguing in a court filing that further disclosures “would disclose sensitive information bearing on national security and foreign relations.”
When asked whether he believed the Supreme Court would rule in his favor if it took up the case, Trump was confident. “I do, because the job of getting people out of our country that are murderers, that are absolutely the worst people, the drug lords… that’s a presidential thing,” he said.
Trump criticized local and federal judges attempting to interfere with executive authority on immigration enforcement, calling it a political maneuver. “Some of it’s for the publicity. They love the publicity. All of a sudden they’re on the front page of every newspaper, but they have no right to be.”