The Trump administration says it is not feasible to carry out a judge’s order to set up new methods for migrants already deported back to Venezuela to argue why they should be allowed to return.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio told U.S. District Judge James Boasberg that not only has the U.S. lost track of the deported Venezuelans, but even trying to provide them redress could upset the iffy situation in their home country.
In a filing late Monday, Mr. Rubio said that the U.S. operation that arrested Nicolas Maduro and left Venezuela with an interim government has created an “extraordinarily delicate” set of negotiations with “so-called acting President Delcy Rodriguez.”
He said raising the issue of what to do with 137 deportees believed to be in Venezuela “would risk material damage to U.S. foreign policy interests.”
The declaration is the latest instance of the administration daring Judge Boasberg, a frequent opponent of President Trump.
At issue are Venezuelans the U.S. deported on March 15 under the Alien Enemies Act, a sort of shortcut through the regular immigration system. Mr. Trump argues that the deportees were members of Tren de Aragua, a gang that’s been declared a terrorist organization by the State Department, and thus subject to the 1798 law.
Judge Boasberg said the migrants at least deserved a chance to argue they weren’t members of TdA before being deported. He has ordered the U.S. to find a way to do that, even though the migrants are now outside of American custody.
He said the government either must bring them back or figure out a way to hold hearings remotely.
The Justice Department said in a new filing that neither plan can work.
Remote hearings wouldn’t satisfy due process, and trying to find and bring people back from the tenuous situation in Venezuela would risk upsetting the delicate situation Mr. Rubio cited, said Tiberius Davis, a Justice Department lawyer.
The March 15 deportation flights have proved to be a persistent problem for the Trump administration.
Among those deported that day was Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran whom the administration was forced to un-deport. Mr. Abrego Garcia remains free in the U.S., and Homeland Security is under orders not to try to rearrest him right now.
Those on the three deportation flights on March 15 have accused U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement personnel of beating them to force them off the planes in El Salvador, where they were sent to that country’s terrorist prison.
In July, El Salvador released the Venezuelans from the flight, letting them go to Venezuela. But even there, the migrants say they are in a precarious situation and want to return to the U.S.
