The freakout continues over the Trump administration's invocation of the Alien Enemies Act to deport over 200 members of Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua en masse - and take them to a place where they can't just try to make their way back to the border. CNN's Kasie Hunt tried her level best on Monday evening to "gotcha" Trump's Deputy Chief of Staff, Stephen Miller, over the issue, repeating the claim that Trump was ignoring a lawful court order and that the administration would just decide to ignore any court order it didn't agree with. She failed miserably.
You really need to watch the whole nine-plus minutes, but I'll share the transcript of some of the juiciest parts of the exchange after the video.
As we've reported, the Tren de Aragua members were taken to El Salvador and are being housed at the Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT). Just over 100 of the passengers were removed from the United States under Title VIII removal proceedings, and 137 were removed pursuant to the Alien Enemies Act. Twenty-three of the people on the flight were Salvadorians and members of MS-13; El Salvador's President Nayib Bukele expressed gratitude for the return of those criminals so they could face justice in El Salvador's system. Chief U.S. District Court Judge James Boasberg verbally ordered the already airborne planes to return to the United States, but the administration did not comply because the planes were already outside American airspace when the order was issued. In addition, the administration argues that Boasberg doesn't have jurisdiction anyway because Trump was exercising his powers under Article 2 of the Constitution.
