Trump administration asks SCOTUS to lift judge's block on Alien Enemies Act deportations

WASHINGTON -- The Trump administration has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to urgently lift U.S. District Judge James Boasberg's temporary restraining order blocking the deportations of alleged Tren de Aragua gang members under the Alien Enemies Act.

"Only this Court can stop rule-by-TRO from further upending the separation of powers -- the sooner, the better," Acting Solicitor General Sarah Harris wrote in an emergency application to the court.

The appeal follows Wednesday's 2-1 ruling by the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals upholding Boasberg's order and defending his jurisdiction in the matter.

"Here, the district court's orders have rebuffed the President's judgments as to how to protect the Nation against foreign terrorist organizations and risk debilitating effects for delicate foreign negotiations," Harris wrote in her application Friday.

"More broadly, rule-by-TRO has become so commonplace among district courts that the Executive Branch's basic functions are in peril. In the two months since Inauguration Day, district courts have issued more than 40 injunctions or TROs against the Executive Branch," Harris wrote.

The appeals court heard arguments Monday over the Trump administration's use of the Alien Enemies Act last week to deport more than 200 alleged migrant gang members to El Salvador without due process.

Trump last week invoked the Alien Enemies Act -- a wartime authority used to deport noncitizens with little-to-no due process -- by arguing that the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua is a "hybrid criminal state" that is invading the United States.

Judge Boasberg temporarily blocked the president's use of the law to deport the alleged gang members, calling the removals "awfully frightening" and "incredibly troublesome," and ordered that the government turn around the two flights carrying the alleged gang members. Authorities failed to turn the flights around, saying they were already in international waters.

An official with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement last week acknowledged in a sworn declaration that "many" of the alleged gang members did not have criminal records in the United States -- but said that "the lack of specific information about each individual actually highlights the risk they pose" and "demonstrates that they are terrorists with regard to whom we lack a complete profile."

Administration officials have not been clear about the evidence they have that shows the detainees are gang members.