DC appellate court hears oral arguments in Trump deportation suit

The Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit will hear oral arguments Monday on whether a lower court can properly address the Trump administration’s efforts to deport Venezuelan nationals via a 1798 wartime law. 

The administration asked for a stay pending appeal shortly after an initial March 15 order was issued, calling it a “massive, unauthorized imposition on the Executive’s authority to remove dangerous aliens who pose threats to the American people.”

The Trump administration had attempted to invoke a 1798 wartime authority to deport Venezuelan nationals, including alleged members of the gang Tren de Aragua (TdA), for a period of 14 days. 

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The Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit will hear oral arguments Monday on whether a lower court can properly address the Trump administration’s efforts to deport Venezuelan nationals via 1798 wartime law. (Getty Images)

Last week, Obama-appointed, D.C.-based Judge James Boasberg issued an order to immediately halt any planned deportations of Venezuelan nationals to El Salvador. A plane carrying hundreds of U.S. migrants, including Venezuelan nationals removed under the law, arrived in El Salvador hours later despite the order.

Boasberg held a Monday evening fact-finding hearing, where he ordered the Trump administration to submit more information on the flights, including information on how planes departed the U.S. that were carrying any people who were deported “solely on the basis” of that proclamation, how many individuals were on each plane, where the planes landed and what time each plane took off from the U.S., and from where.

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Boasberg imposed a Tuesday noon deadline to submit the information and also ordered the parties to appear in court again on Friday. 

In a reply brief submitted to the D.C. Circuit on Wednesday, the government said “the district court is continuing to attempt to pry sensitive information from the Government. All of the district court’s orders should be stayed, and the Executive Branch’s standing as a coequal branch of Government should be respected.”

Judge James Boasberg issued an order to immediately halt any planned deportations of Venezuelan nationals to El Salvador. (Getty)

The Trump administration called the additional requests “intrusive inquiries that could hamper negotiations in the future.”

The government repeatedly failed to comply with the order to submit additional information, citing national security issues. Boasberg then said the government could submit the information under seal by Thursday. 

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In a Thursday evening order, Boasberg slammed the administration after it missed his deadline, saying it “again evaded its obligations” to submit the requested information. 

Boasberg wrote in his order that the government had, instead, sent a six-paragraph declaration from a regional ICE office director in Harlingen, Texas, which notified the court that Cabinet secretaries are “actively considering whether to invoke the state secrets [act] privileges over the other facts requested by the Court’s order.”

Judges Karen Henderson, Patricia Millett and Justin Walker will preside over the Monday oral arguments. (David Ake/Getty Images)

Boasberg called the submission “woefully insufficient.”

Judges Karen Henderson, Patricia Millett and Justin Walker will preside over the Monday oral arguments. Two of the three judges were nominated by Republican presidents, with Henderson appointed by President George H.W. Bush in 1990 and Walker by Trump in 2020. 

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Millett was appointed by President Barack Obama in 2013.

Fox News Digital’s Breanne Deppisch and David Spunt contributed to this report.