A U.S. District judge appointed by former President Barack Obama ordered on Saturday that President Donald Trump’s recent order — designating violent Venezuelan prison gang members as foreign terrorists — was illegal and all planes deporting them should be stopped or returned to the United States.
Judge James Boasberg ordered placed a temporary hold — for 14 days — on Trump’s use of 1798’s Alien Enemies Act, and applied it to active deportations already in progress: “Any plane containing these folks that is going to take off or is in the air needs to be returned to the United States however that is accomplished. Make sure it’s complied with immediately.”
“I do not believe I can wait any longer and am required to act,” Boasberg added, noting that because the gang members in question would remain in federal custody despite the hold on their deportation. “A brief…
