U.S. Circuit Judge Patricia Millett hammered Justice Department lawyer Drew Ensign during an appeals court hearing on Monday over the forced deportations of immigrants to El Salvador.
President Donald Trump used the Alien Enemy Act to claim that Venezuelan nationals his administration intended to deport were gang members and had effectively invaded the U.S.
Millett asked whether migrants had enough time to file legal actions before being deported. She said that it appeared there was very little time between when the migrants were told they were considered gang members and when they were put on the planes — and they didn't get the chance to pursue their legal rights.
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"The point here was that there were plane loads of people," the judge said. "I mean, it was all sorts of class action. There were plane loads of people. There were no procedures in place to notify people.
"Nazis got better treatment under the Alien Enemy Act than has happened here, where the proclamation required the promulgation of regulations. And they had hearing boards before people were removed. And yet here there's no — there's nothing in there about hearing boards. There's no regulations, and nothing was adopted by the agency officials that were administering this. The people weren't given notice. They weren't told where they were going."
She continued: "They were given — those people on those planes on that Saturday had no opportunity to file a habeas or any type of action to challenge the removal under the AEA, and yet you've agreed that two of those airplanes people were removed under the AEA. Is that what's factually wrong about what I said?"
Ensign replied that he disputed the Nazi analogy. He further claimed that individual plaintiffs were able to file Habeas petitions in time to "secure relief."
The judge said that five people had filed petitions — and they were not the issue that concerned her. She wanted to know if everyone on the planes was given that same opportunity.
Listen to the clip below or at the link here.
- YouTubeyoutu.be
