Justice Department confirms Cabinet talks about Trump keeping deportation info secret
WASHINGTON – Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche confirmed Cabinet-level discussions were happening Friday to discuss whether President Donald Trump should invoke the state-secrets privilege to avoid disclosing information about deportations of Venezuelans under the Alien Enemies Act,
Chief U.S. District Judge James Boasberg ordered the government to provide details about deportation flights on Saturday, such as how many passengers they carried and where they landed. He is weighing whether the government defied his oral and written orders that day which temporarily blocked the deportations during the court fight over whether they are justified.
But Attorney General Pam Bondi led Justice Department lawyers in arguing that revealing information about the flights could lead to "catastrophic" harm to foreign affairs. The lawyers contend Trump had the authority to invoke the Alien Enemies Act to deport alleged members of the Venezuelan crime gang Tren de Aragua.
In a filing Thursday, government lawyers said they couldn’t meet a noon deadline to provide information about passengers and destinations of the flights because of the debate about the state-secrets privilege.
Robert Cerna, the acting field office director for Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Harlingen, Texas, where the flights departed, said in filing Thursday that he understood there were discussions about whether to invoke the secret privilege but that no decision could be reached in 24 hours.
Boasberg wanted to hear from someone with direct knowledge of the discussion.
Blanche said in the one-page filing Friday he had “personal knowledge” of the discussion, “including my direct involvement in ongoing Cabinet-level discussions regarding the invocation of the state-secrets privilege.”
Trump administration officials have said information about the deportations should be withheld because of national security concerns related to the gang, which has been labeled a foreign terrorist organization and the sensitive negotiations with other countries to accept the removals.
Boasberg set a hearing Friday afternoon to learn more about the case with lawyers for the government and Venezuelans.
The judge set a Tuesday deadline for the government to declare whether Trump would invoke the state-secrets privilege.
At the same time, the Justice Department has also asked the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals to overturn Boasberg’s block on the deportations. A hearing on the appeal is scheduled for Monday.