Bondi says judge has 'no right' to ask flight deportation questions
Attorney General Pam Bondi said the district judge who ordered the Trump administration to return deportation flights over the weekend has “no right” to be asking questions about the specifics.
“Our lawyers are working on this, we will answer appropriately,” Bondi said Wednesday on Fox News. “But what I will tell you is, this judge has no right to ask those questions.”
District Judge James Boasberg originally gave the Trump administration a Tuesday deadline to reply to questions about the flights carrying members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua (TdA). He extended the deadline a day, giving the administration until Thursday to provide the requested information.
President Trump invoked the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 over the weekend. Boasberg expanded a temporary block on the deportations of five migrants and verbally ordered the plane carrying nearly 300 alleged TdA members not to leave the U.S. or to turn around if it had already taken off.
In a fiery Monday hearing, Boasberg pressed the administration on the timing of the flights and called for answers about the timeline, or justification for refusing to do so.
Trump, his administration and GOP allies have all sharply criticized Boasberg for the order and subsequent hearing, calling for him to be impeached and stirring up questions about executive versus judicial power.
On Wednesday, with the deadline nearing, Bondi said Boasberg had no “business, no power” to order the administration to return the flights. She argued that it has been a “pattern” from liberal judges to order things they have no jurisdiction to do.
“They’re meddling in foreign affairs. They’re meddling in our government,” she said. “And the question should be, why is a judge trying to protect terrorists who have invaded our country over American citizens?”
Bondi repeated similar claims to other Trump administration officials, calling TdA a terrorist organization.
The Biden administration officially recognized the gang as a transnational criminal organization last year. The group later became a flashpoint of Trump’s campaign.
“We are going to deport them, and we’re going to continue to deport them. We will honor what the court says, but we will appeal, and we will continue to fight terrorists within our country,” Bondi concluded.
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