Attorney General Pam Bondi says a federal judge “has no right” to question the Justice Department after the Trump administration ignored an order halting deportation flights.
Over the weekend, U.S. District Judge James Boasberg ordered a halt to the effort to deport hundreds of immigrants allegedly affiliated with Venezuelan gangs after Trump invoked a controversial 18th century wartime law.
The Trump administration ignored the judge’s orders and went ahead with the deportation flights anyway. In court on Monday, one DOJ attorney argued that the verbal order was “not enforceable.”
Boasberg gave the DOJ until noon Thursday to provide more information about how many planes took off, where they went, what time they took off, when they landed and how many people were transferred from each plane into the custody of the country in which they landed.
But, in an Fox News interview on Wednesday, Bondi says Boasberg has no right to question the DOJ.
“Our lawyers are working on this,” she said on The Will Cain Show, in a clip highlighted by Mediaite. “But what I will tell you is this judge has no right to ask those questions. You have one unelected federal judge trying to control foreign policies, trying to control the Alien Enemies Act, which they have no business presiding over… The judge had no business, no power to do what he did.”
“We will honor what the court says, but we will appeal and we will continue to fight terrorists within our country,” Bondi added. “We’re not gonna stop.”
Trump, meanwhile, has called for Boasberg to be impeached, earning a rare rebuke from Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts.
“This judge, like many of the Crooked Judges’ I am forced to appear before, should be IMPEACHED!!!” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “WE DON’T WANT VICIOUS, VIOLENT, AND DEMENTED CRIMINALS, MANY OF THEM DERANGED MURDERERS, IN OUR COUNTRY. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!!!
In response Roberts wrote: “For more than two centuries, it has been established that impeachment is not an appropriate response to disagreement concerning a judicial decision. The normal appellate review process exists for that purpose.”
Rep. Brandon Gill (R-TX) has already introduced Articles of Impeachment against Judge Boasberg, alleging that he “abused the powers of his judicial authority.”
