Administration invokes state secrets privilege to shield info on deportation flights

Administration invokes state secrets privilege to shield info on deportation flights

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(WASHINGTON) — The Trump administration is refusing to provide a federal judge with any additional information about last week’s deportation flights under the Alien Enemies Act, arguing the disclosure of the information would “pose reasonable danger to national security and foreign affairs.”

In a court filing Monday evening and in a series of sworn affidavits by three top cabinet officials, the Trump administration invoked the “state secrets privilege” to attempt to stop U.S. District Judge James Boasberg from learning more information about the flights as the judge tries to determine if the government willfully violated a court order last week.

Boasberg last week issued a temporary restraining order and ordered that the government turn around two deportation flights on their way to El Salvador after the Trump administration invoked the Alien Enemies Act to deport more than 200 alleged Venezuelan gang members without due process.

The government failed to turn the flights around, and an official subsequently acknowledged that “many” of the detainees did not have criminal records in the United States.

“This is a case about the President’s plenary authority, derived from Article II and the mandate of the electorate, and reinforced by longstanding statute, to remove from the homeland designated terrorists participating in a state-sponsored invasion of, and predatory incursion into, the United States,” Deputy Assistant Attorney General Drew Ensign wrote in Monday’s filing. “The Court has all of the facts it needs to address the compliance issues before it.”

To determine if the Trump administration complied with his order last week, Judge Boasberg had requested information about the number of alleged gang members on each flight, when the flights took off and left U.S. airspace, where the flights landed, and when the men were transferred out of U.S. custody. The Trump administration so far has refused to provide any of the requested i rett, Jessica, Hunter and their community of family and friends in mourning the loss of Miller, who had a spark in his eyes, an outgoing and feisty personality, and a warm and loving nature,” the statement added.

“May Miller rest in peace,” the statement concludes.

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