Attorney General Pam Bondi said the Trump administration will not comply with a federal judge’s recent ruling on deportations. She confirmed that the administration will continue to deport Venezuelan immigrants, despite the judge’s order to pause these efforts.
“These are foreign terrorists, that the president has identified them, and designated them as such, and we will continue to follow the Alien Enemies Act,” Bondi said on Fox News’s Jesse Watters Primetime on Monday.
The judge’s ruling came on Saturday when U.S. District Judge James Boasberg temporarily blocked President Trump from using the Alien Enemies Act, which would allow him to detain and deport people from countries considered threats without much legal process.
Bondi sharply criticized the judge for trying to intervene in the administration’s foreign policy decisions.
“He can’t do it,” she said, calling the ruling an “intrusion on the president’s authority.”
“You know, this one federal judge again thinks he can control foreign policy for the entire country, and he cannot,” the attorney general added.
The Trump administration had already removed nearly 300 members of the Tren de Aragua gang, which was labeled as terrorists under the recent court order.
“All of the planes subject to the written order of this judge departed U.S. soil, U.S. territory before the judge’s written order,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt explained to reporters.
Boasberg’s ruling came after 6:45 p.m. EDT, but the information wasn’t officially filed until 7:26 p.m. EDT. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), which filed a lawsuit against the administration over deportations of five Venezuelans, pointed out this timing issue.
The Trump administration has not shared flight details with the judge, and other officials are backing the president’s actions.
“It is without doubt the most unlawful order a judge has issued in our lifetimes,” said deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller. “A district court judge has no authority to direct the national security operations of the executive branch. The president has operated at the absolute apex of his constitutional authority.”
Tom Homan, the border czar, also criticized the judge’s decisions.
“I don’t care what the judges think. I don’t care,” he said during an appearance on Fox & Friends.
The Trump administration is now considering having the case reassigned to a different judge due to concerns over Boasberg’s ruling.
“Right now, we’re evaluating our options,” Bondi said.
Watch the interview below from Fox News.
