Trump Says He Wasn't the One Who Invoked Alien Enemies Act: 'Other People Handled It' [View all]

Source: MEDIAite

Mar 21st, 2025, 7:44 pm


President Donald Trump is pleading ignorance amid questions about his deportations of Venezuelan immigrants to El Salvador. Last week, the Trump administration invoked the 1798 Alien Enemies Act to expedite the deportations of individuals that it claims are violent criminals. The act had only been invoked three times: during the War of 1812 and both world wars. As planes were in the air carrying the migrants out of the country, U.S. District Judge James Boasberg ordered the government to turn the planes around. The Trump administration ignored the order, as its lawyers claimed they did not think it counted because it was verbal and not written.

Before boarding Marine One on Friday, Trump took questions from reporters. Fox News Senior White House Correspondent Peter Doocy asked the president for his reaction to comments by Boasberg in a hearing just hours earlier, where the judge said, “The policy ramifications of this are incredibly troublesome and problematic and concerning.”

“It doesn’t sound like this judge, who the DOJ was arguing with today about the deportation flights, he wants to know why the proclamation was signed ‘in the dark’ – his words – and why people were rushed onto planes,” Doocy said. “Because we wanna get criminals out of our country, number one,” Trump replied. “And I don’t know when it was signed because I didn’t sign it. Other people handled it. But [Secretary of State] Marco Rubio’s done a great job and he wanted them out. And we go along with that. We want to get criminals out of our country.”

Later, CNN’s Erin Burnett struck a skeptical note and held up a copy of the order. “He said he didn’t sign it,” she said. “I’m sorry, that is his signature, right?” “Erin, that is his signature,” replied CNN’s Jeff Zeleny. “And that is in the federal register. And that is where all of these executive orders that the president signs goes. So, they did sign it last weekend. The White House talked about that openly on Saturday evening.”

Read more: https://www.mediaite.com/tv/trump-says-he-wasnt-the-one-who-invoked-alien-enemies-act-other-people-handled-it/