A noted legal expert has weighed in on the administration’s ongoing court battles regarding the invocation of the Alien Enemies Act to rapidly deport illegal aliens in the U.S. who are deemed to belong to foreign-based gangs that President Donald Trump has deemed terrorist organizations. George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley stated on Monday evening during “The Ingraham Angle” that the Supreme Court must provide “finality and clarity” for the Trump administration regarding its deportation cases.
This month, the Supreme Court issued rulings on several cases involving the Trump administration, including matters related to its deportation efforts targeting illegal migrants. During a segment on Fox News, Laura Ingraham raised the question of whether the Court’s recent decisions could pose a risk for the Trump administration, particularly in the case of Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia and the potential for his return to the United States. “Well, there is a risk. Early on, I joined many saying that Garcia should have been brought back under that order,” Turley said. “He would have been deported again. I mean, he could have been deported back to El Salvador, and this has drawn out that case.”
“The administration wants to fight on this hill. That’s very obvious. The risk is always that you’re going to alienate judges,” Turley added. “Just this weekend, a very respected judge, a conservative judge in the Fourth Circuit, really cautioned the administration to de-escalate. I think that those words should be heeded.” In March, Kilmar Abrego Garcia was deported from the U.S. to a high-security prison in El Salvador, prompting an Obama-appointed judge to order the Trump administration to return him. The Department of Justice appealed to the Supreme Court, arguing that Abrego Garcia’s purported ties to the MS-13 gang justified his continued detention in El Salvador, despite acknowledging a procedural error in his deportation.
On April 10, however, the Supreme Court ruled that the Trump administration needs to “facilitate” Abrego Garcia’s “release from custody in El Salvador” and “ensure that his case is handled as it would have been” before he was sent to the foreign country. Turley went on to say the administration will need to be “cautious with these cases,” as they need conservative judges to be willing to hear them out, while also saying that the administration has a valid argument as well.
“The administration, however, has a legitimate point here that the court itself is responsible for some of this. What we need is clarity,” Turley said. “For years, the court told district court judges to stop issuing national injunctions but did little to give them guidelines. When they got the earlier case, they sent it back supporting an order to facilitate the return of Garcia and didn’t define what that means.”
“A lot of this disorder, I think, is a lack of clarity,” Turley said. “The Supreme Court’s got to come in. They’ve got to deal with the Alien Enemies Act. They’ve got to define what the president’s authority is under that act. They can’t just keep on saying facilitate or give due process. They need greater specificity. Once they do that, a lot of this is going to subside.” He added: “The one thing about Trump in his first term, he complied with court orders. He pushed them to the limit. He often said tough words for the courts, but he complied. But that’s the value of clarity and finality. And that’s what we have to get back to.”