By Ted Hesson and Jack Queen
WASHINGTON (Reuters)-A US federal judge pressed the Trump government on Monday to provide details about hundreds of deported Venezuelan, who prevented him from doing so, and gave the government until Tuesday to explain why authorities believed they had fulfilled their order.
President Donald Trump’s government deported more than 200 Venezuelans who, according to him, were members of Aragua’s Tren, a Venezuelan gang linked to kidnappings, extortions and commission murders, to El Salvador over the weekend, even with Judge James Bomberg preventing the government from using a war law to make deportations.
Bomberg had already instructed the government to provide details about the time of flights that transported the Venezuelans to El Salvador, including if they took off after their order issuing.
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He rebuked the government lawyer for the administration response during a hearing on Monday (17).
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“Why are you showing up today without answers?” Asked Bomberg.
The hearing took place after a government request to withdraw the judge from the case. The Trump government has contested the historical controls and balances among the Powers in the US.
Since taking office in January, Trump has sought to exceed the limits of the Executive Power, cutting off Congress -authorized expenses, dismantling agencies and firing thousands of federal officials.
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Monday’s session was motivated by an emergency hearing on Saturday, in which American Civil Liberties Union, a civil rights group, requested that Boaberg emit one two weeks about the use of Trump of the 1798 foreign enemies law to make deportation.
The White House said on Sunday that federal courts have no jurisdiction about Trump’s authority to expel foreign enemies according to the 18th century law, historically used only in times of war, although it has also said it has fulfilled order.
In a court document just before Monday’s hearing, the Trump government said an oral guideline of the judge on Saturday to return any plane that transported the migrants “was not applicable” because it was not in a written order.
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The government said it did not violate the subsequent written order of Bomberg that prevented immigration authorities from removing immigrants because the planes had already departed when the order was issued.
But the judge said in court that he still wanted to know when the flights left, where they were going, when they left US airspace, and when they landed in a foreign country. He also asked when the individuals were transferred to foreign custody.
“There is a lot of national operational security and foreign affairs at risk,” said ABHISHEK KAMBLI, the Justice Department lawyer, explaining why the Trump government was resisting to share information.
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Bomberg ordered the government to supply, by noon on Tuesday, details such as the time of flights and flights of flights in foreign countries, the number of people deported and why the government did not believe it could make this information public.
Bomberg did not say if the government violated its Saturday orders.
The judge seemed skeptical at times in relation to the Trump government’s justification not to return the planes to the US. He repeatedly pressed Kambli, who said several times that there were matters he could not share publicly.
