Trump says judge blocking deportations 'should be impeached,' DOJ challenges jurisdiction
Chief Judge James Boasberg grilled a Department of Justice lawyer at a Monday hearing on the deportations of alleged Tren de Aragua gang members.
JaneWalter
James Boasberg, incoming chief judge of the US District Court, in Washington, DC, US, on Monday, March 13, 2023.
Valerie Plesch | Bloomberg | Getty Images
President Donald Trump called Tuesday for the impeachment of a federal judge who has issued orders blocking Trump's plan to deport alleged members of a Venezuelan gang from the United States.
Trump's demand came a day after the Department of Justice asked an appeals court to remove Chief Judge James Boasberg from the case and separately asked Boasberg to vacate the orders he issued on the deportations in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C.
Trump went after Boasberg in a post on Truth Social.
"This Radical Left Lunatic of a Judge, a troublemaker and agitator who was sadly appointed by Barack Hussein Obama, was not elected President - He didn't WIN the popular VOTE (by a lot!), he didn't WIN ALL SEVEN SWING STATES, he didn't WIN 2,750 to 525 Counties, HE DIDN'T WIN ANYTHING!" Trump wrote.
Trump said that he had won the presidential election "for many reasons" but suggested that fighting illegal immigration "may have been the number one reason."
"This judge, like many of the Crooked Judges' I am forced to appear before, should be IMPEACHED!!!" Trump wrote.
"WE DON'T WANT VICIOUS, VIOLENT, AND DEMENTED CRIMINALS, MANY OF THEM DERANGED MURDERERS, IN OUR COUNTRY. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!!!"
Boasberg is presiding over a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union and the advocacy group Democracy Forward challenging the deportations, which the Trump administration argues are authorized under the wartime Alien Enemies Act.
Critics of the plan have questioned how the administration determined who is a member of the gang.
On Saturday, the judge issued two orders enjoining Trump from deporting aliens detained in immigration proceedings who are allegedly associated with the Tren de Aragua gang, which the U.S. has designated as a foreign terrorist organization.
In a court filing Monday night, the DOJ said Boasberg "lacks jurisdiction because the presidential actions they challenge are not subject to judicial review."
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The DOJ in the same filing challenged Boasberg's power to order DOJ lawyers to produce information about the deportations of hundreds of alleged Tren de Aragua members over the weekend to Central America.
At a hearing earlier Monday, a top DOJ lawyer had refused to answer Boasberg's questions about the deportations, citing national security concerns.
The judge has given the DOJ until Tuesday afternoon to respond to questions about its actions, including whether any deportation flight departed the U.S. on Saturday night after he issued his order.
