On Saturday, U.S. District Judge James E. Boasberg tried and failed to block an agreement between the Trump administration and El Salvador that would pay the Central American country $6 million to imprison hundreds of people who were living in America. To make the deal happen, the Trump administration invoked the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, used most notoriously to justify the mass internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II. The act, in theory, can only be deployed in the context of war, but the Trump administration is using it as a weapon for a peacetime immigration clampdown. By claiming that Venezuelan “gang members” are invading the U.S., the Trump administration is attempting to bypass standard legal protections to quickly deport any immigrant whom they decide to say is associated with a gang.
Boasberg’s ruling came after the ACLU sued on behalf of five people facing imminent threat of deportation. Already, however, the administration was sending hundreds of people on a pair of flights to Central America. While Boasberg verbally ordered the planes to be turned around so those on them could have a chance to be heard in court, the Trump administration refused, and instead took the opportunity to gloat about defying the order.
