The Trump administration has called for the “secret state” privilege to avoid providing further information to federal judges regarding the expulsion of highly controversial immigrants to El Salvador under the alien enemy law this month.
The invocation of administration’s privileges is a further escalation of Donald Trump’s fight against immigration-related federal judiciary.
“No further information will be provided” to federal courts in Washington, D.C., based on the state’s secret privileges, according to court filings filed by Justice Department officials on Monday evening. The filing said the case deals with Trump’s full and absolute authority to eliminate “designated terrorists who participated in “state-sponsored invasions of the United States and predatory aggressions.”
In response to the Trump administration’s call, a federal judge in the case said that if the administration wants to provide more information about alien enemy operations, it should do so by March 31.
On March 15, Trump called the alien enemy law and expelled US immigrants in Venezuela. On that day, 238 Venezuelans and 23 Salvadors were placed on planes and sent to El Salvador, where they were quickly detained in a massive “terrorist” prison run by the Salvador government. For more than a week, federal judges have tried to force the Trump administration to release information about the operation.
The Trump administration has repeatedly argued that all of the ousted Venezuelans are members of Venezuelan gangster Tren de Aragua, and that the gangs have “penetrated” the United States in the direction of the Venezuelan government. The intelligence report documents contradict the Trump administration’s allegations. A news report identifying some of the Venezuelans who were exiled to El Salvador has released evidence and claims from their families that they are innocent and not gang members.
After the immigrants’ expulsion, federal judge James E. Boasberg temporarily blocked the call to alien enemy law for further production. In a later court order, Boasberg doubled the block and directed the federal government to hold separate hearings of immigrants who will be expelled through the law and see if that applies to them at all.
As a result of Boasburg’s pushback, the Trump administration and its allies are attacking judges, trying to fire him each, and engaged in further battles with the judiciary. On Monday, the federal court of appeals held a hearing on the Trump administration’s request to remove Boasburg from the case.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in another Monday declaration that the rapid expulsion of nearly 300 migrants came through “negotiating private, sensitive, high interests.” The “delicate” negotiations are likely to be led by the Salvador government by President Naive Bukere.
For more than a week, Boasberg has been trying to force the government to provide information about the use of alien enemy laws. Rubio argued that disclosure of information about the operation could put more pressure on relevant US allies and put relations with the US at risk.
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Last month, the State Department classified Tren de Aragua, MS-13 and other Mexican criminal groups as “terrorist organizations.”
It is still unknown who was banished to El Salvador by the Trump administration. The press has published a list of Venezuelan names on two flights, and the identities of the two Salvador men, both allegedly members of the multinational gangster MS-13, have also been published by Central American news organizations.
However, further information continues to be released, with questions about the operation being raised. On Monday, two immigrant women provided a declaration in federal court, and said eight women were also on planes sent to El Salvador. The Salvador facility only detains men, so the woman was not hospitalized in prison and was sent back to the United States.
