Trump administration invokes state secrets privilege in case over deportations under wartime law

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Trump administration invokes state secrets privilege in case over deportations under wartime law

2025-03-25 12:02 Last Updated At：12:10

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration on Monday invoked a “state secrets privilege” and refused to give a federal judge any additional information about the deportation of Venezuelan migrants to El Salvador under an 18th century wartime law — a case that has become a flashpoint amid escalating tension with the federal courts.

The declaration comes as U.S. District Judge James Boasberg weighs whether the government defied his order to turn around planes carrying migrants after he blocked deportations of people alleged to be gang members without due process.

Boasberg, the chief judge of the federal district court in Washington, has asked for details about when the planes landed and who was on board, information that the Trump administration asserts would harm “diplomatic and national security concerns."

Government attorneys also asked an appeals court on Monday to lift Boasberg's order and allow deportations to continue, a push that appeared to divide the judges.

Circuit Court Judge Patricia Millett said Nazis detained in the U.S. during World World II received better legal treatment than Venezuelan immigrants who were were deported to El Salvador this month under the same statute.

“We certainly dispute the Nazi analogy,” Justice Department attorney Drew Ensign responded during a hearing of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.

Millett is one of three appellate judges who will decide whether to lift a March 15 order temporarily prohibiting deportations under the Alien Enemies Act of 1798. They didn't rule from the bench Monday.

A second judge appeared open to the administration’s argument that the migrants should be challenging their detention in Texas rather than the nation’s capital. The third judge on the panel didn’t ask any questions.

The administration has transferred hundreds of Venezuelan immigrants to El Salvador, invoking the Alien Enemies Act for the first time since World War II.

Also on Monday, attorneys representing the Venezuelan government filed a legal action in El Salvador to free 238 Venezuelans who are being held in a Salvadoran maximum-security prison after the U.S. deported them.

President Donald Trump's administration appealed after Boasberg blocked those deportations and ordered planeloads of Venezuelan immigrants to return to the U.S. That did not happen.

The Alien Enemies Act allows noncitizens to be deported without the opportunity to go before an immigration or federal court judge. Trump issued a proclamation calling the Tren de Aragua gang an invading force.

Ensign argued that Boasberg’s ruling was an “unprecedented and enormous intrusion upon the powers of the executive branch.”

“The president has to comply with the Constitution and the laws like anyone else,” said MiIlett, who was nominated by Democratic President Barack Obama in 2013.

Judge Justin Walker, whom Trump nominated in 2020, seemed to be more receptive to the administration’s arguments based on his line of questioning. Walker pointed to the government’s arguments that the plaintiffs should have filed their lawsuit in Texas, where the immigrants were detained.

“You could have filed the exact same complaint you filed here in Texas district court,” Walker told American Civil Liberties Union attorney Lee Gelernt.

“We have no idea if everyone is in Texas,” Gelernt said.

Walker also pressed the plaintiffs’ lawyer to cite any prior case in which a judicial order blocking “a national security operation with foreign implications” survived appellate review.

Gelernt accused the administration of trying to use the law to “short circuit” immigration proceedings. Plaintiffs’ attorneys had no way to individually challenge all the deportations before planeloads of Venezuelans took off on March 15, he added.

“This has all been done in secret,” Gelernt said.

Judge Karen LeCraft Henderson, who was nominated by Republican President George H.W. Bush in 1990, was the third judge on the panel. She didn’t ask any questions during a hearing that lasted roughly two hours.

Boasberg, an Obama nominee, ruled that immigrants facing deportation must get an opportunity to challenge their designations as alleged gang members. He said there is “a strong public interest in preventing the mistaken deportation of people based on categories they have no right to challenge.”

“The public also has a significant stake in the Government’s compliance with the law,” the judge wrote.

Trump and his allies have called for impeaching Boasberg. In a rare statement, Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts said “impeachment is not an appropriate response to disagreement concerning a judicial decision.”

Just after midnight Monday, Trump posted a social media message questioning Boasberg's impartiality and calling for him to be disbarred.

During a hearing Friday, Boasberg vowed to determine whether the government defied his oral order from the bench to turn planes around. The Justice Department has said that the judge’s oral directions did not count, that only his written order needed to be followed and that it couldn’t apply to flights that had already left the U.S.

Knicks use a 21-0 run in the 4th quarter to beat the Pistons 123-112 in Game 1

2025-04-20 21:21 Last Updated At：21:30

NEW YORK (AP) — Jalen Brunson was hobbling and Madison Square Garden had gone quiet as the New York Knicks fell deeper into a hole late in the third quarter.

Brunson then left the court for what appeared to be a change of sneakers, though maybe that wasn't all.

“I think he grabbed his cape,” coach Tom Thibodeau said.

Brunson and his teammates were sure super from there.

Brunson scored 34 points, Cam Payne had 11 of his 14 in the fourth quarter and the Knicks stunned the Detroit Pistons with a 21-0 run to rally for a 123-112 victory Saturday night in Game 1 of the first-round playoff series.

Karl-Anthony Towns had 23 points and 11 rebounds in his first playoff game with the Knicks and OG Anunoby also scored 23 points for the No. 3 seeds, who will host Game 2 on Monday night.

The Pistons held up well for more than three quarters of their first playoff game since 2019 and had a 98-90 lead, a little more than nine minutes from ending their NBA-record, 14-game postseason losing streak.

By the time they scored again, the Knicks were ahead by 13 points, the delirious fans in the arena roaring louder with every Pistons miscue after they played with such poise for much of the game.

Payne converted a three-point play to start the run, Brunson scored and Payne made a 3-pointer to tie it at 98, and the onslaught would last for nearly five minutes. Payne and Brunson combined for the first 17 points before Josh Hart had the final two baskets to make it 111-98 with 4:50 remaining.

“I been kind of waiting on that all year,” Payne said. “I've been waiting on this game, how I played today, all year.”

Tobias Harris scored 25 points for Detroit, but just three in the second half. Cade Cunningham had 21 points and 12 assists, but the Knicks limited the star guard to 8-for-21 shooting in his playoff debut.

Brunson, who missed 15 games late in the season with a sprained right ankle, was just 4 for 15 in the first half and appeared to tweak the ankle again. But he changed out of his green sneakers and found another gear in the fourth along with the Knicks.

“Obviously, we didn’t end the third quarter the way we wanted to, but there was never a doubt that we’re going to just lay down and not fight,” Brunson said. “We had to find a way to figure things out and keep battling and I mean, it turned around quickly.”

The Pistons remained winless in the postseason since Game 4 of the 2008 Eastern Conference finals.

“Obviously, for this group, guys having first-time playoff experience, just understanding yeah, it stinks to lose, but it’s all about how you come back,” Harris said.

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