Trump administration invokes state secrets privilege in case over deportations under wartime law [View all]

Source: Associated Press via the Toronto Star

Trump administration invokes state secrets privilege in case over deportations under wartime law

The judge ruled that immigrants facing deportation must get an opportunity to challenge their designations as alleged members of the Tren de Aragua gang.

March 24, 2025
3 min read

By Michael Kunzelman And Lindsay Whitehurst The Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Trump administration on Monday invoked a "state secrets privilege" and refused to give a federal judge any additional information about the deportation of Venezuelan migrants to El Salvador under an 18th century wartime law -- a case that has become a flashpoint amid escalating tension with the federal courts.

The declaration comes as Chief Judge James Boasberg weighs whether the government defied his order to turn around planes carrying migrants after he blocked deportations of people alleged to be gang members without due process.

He has asked for details about when the planes landed and who was on board, information that the Trump administration asserts would harm "diplomatic and national security concerns." … Government attorneys also asked an appeals court on Monday to lift Boasberg’s order and allow deportations to continue, a push that appeared to divide the judges.

Circuit Court Judge Patricia Millett said Nazis detained in the U.S. during World World II received better legal treatment than Venezuelan immigrants who were were deported to El Salvador this month under the same statute.

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Read more: https://www.thestar.com/news/world/united-states/trump-administration-invokes-state-secrets-privilege-in-case-over-deportations-under-wartime-law/article_ac2b2abc-840a-5688-a94b-c19fedb9fbdf.html

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I heard this on the 8:00 p.m. CBS Radio News on WTOP.

This showed up at around the same time:

Chris Geidner
‪@chrisgeidner.bsky.social‬

https://bsky.app/profile/chrisgeidner.bsky.social

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BREAKING: Trump administration invokes "state secrets privilege" over questions from Chief Judge Boasberg into whether the government violated the classwide TRO blocking removals under Trump's Alien Enemies Act proclamation. https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.dcd.278436/gov.uscourts.dcd.278436.56.0.pdf

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
J.G.G., et al.,
Civil Action No. 1:25-cv-00766
Plaintiffs-Petitioners,
v.
DONALD J. TRUMP, in his official capacity as President of the Linited Siates, Defendants-Respondents.
NOTICE INVOKING STATE SECRETS PRIVILEGE
The Executive Branch hereby notifies the Court that no further information will be
provided in response to the Court's March 18, 2025 Minute Order based on the state secrets
privilege and the concurrently filed declarations of the Secretary of State and the Secretary of
Homeland Security.
This is a case about the President's plenary authority, derived from Article II and the
mandate of the electorate, and reinforced by longstanding statute, to remove from the homeland
designated terrorists participating in a state-sponsored invasion of, and predatory incursion into,
the United States. The Court has all of the facts it needs to address the compliance issues before
it. Further intrusions on the Executive Branch would present dangerous and wholly unwarranted
separation-of-powers harms with respect to diplomatic and national security concerns that the
Court lacks competence to address. Accordingly, the states secrets privilege forecloses further
demands for details that have no place in this matter, and the government will address the Court's
order to show cause tomorrow by demonstrating that there is no basis for the suggestion of non-
compliance with any binding order.
ALT

Respectfully Submitted,
PAMELA J. BONDI
U.S. Attorney General
TODD BLANCHE
Deputy Attorney General
EMIL BOVE
Principal Associate Deputy
Attorney General
CHAD MIZELLE
Acting Associate Attorney General
YAAKOV M. ROTH
Acting Assistant Attorney General
s/ Drew C. Ensign
DREW C. ENSIGN
Deputy Assistant Attorney General
950 Pennsylvania Avenue
Washington, DC 20530

AUGUST E. FLENTJE
Acting Director
EREZ REUVENI
Assistant Director
BRIAN C. WARD
Acting Assistant Director
PATRICK GLEN
Senior Litigation Counsel
ALT
March 24, 2025 at 8:01 PM

BREAKING: Trump administration invokes “state secrets privilege” over questions from Chief Judge Boasberg into whether the government violated the classwide TRO blocking removals under Trump’s Alien Enemies Act proclamation. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

— Chris Geidner (@chrisgeidner.bsky.social) 2025-03-25T00:01:09.979Z