White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller was grilled by CNN’s Kasie Hunt over whether the Trump administration ignored orders from a district judge to stop the deportation of Venezuelan gang members from the U.S. to El Salvador.
In a heated interview on Monday, Hunt repeatedly pressed Miller as to whether President Trump was ignoring District Court judge James Boasberg who issued an order to turn around three planes transporting Venezuelan gang members from the U.S. to a prison in El Salvador.
Miller delivered a detailed lesson on the president’s constitutional authority, citing the 1798 Alien Enemies Act which was enacted by Founding Father John Adams, to support the presidential power to repel an “alien invasion” organized by Venezuela.
Stephen Miller has spent the last 4 years researching exactly how this would go down…
He’s been sitting at his desk, reading 18th century laws and forgotten Supreme Court cases until 2am under the light of a lone burning candle.
CNN anchors are not prepared for this. https://t.co/ah0B8nciPC
— Geiger Capital (@Geiger_Capital) March 17, 2025
When Hunt responded that judicial oversight is essential to our system of government, Miller systematically dismantled her claim, explaining that an unelected district court judge cannot override the president’s role as Commander-in-Chief.
Miller asked Hunt, “Can a district court judge enjoin troop movements overseas? Can he direct Air Force One or an aircraft carrier? No? Then why are we pretending he can stop the expulsion of foreign terrorists or illegal invaders?”
Hunt was unable to answer Miller’s questions but instead returned to repeatedly questioning whether the Trump administration was ignoring the judge’s order by not calling the planes back to the U.S.
Miller turned the question back onto Hunt asking her, “Did [the judge] know how much fuel was in those planes? Did he know the weather conditions? The need for crew rest? No. This judge violated the law. He violated the Constitution.”
Axios reports that the White House quietly orchestrated the flights on Saturday to leave before information was leaked to the judge who order them to be turned around.
REPORT: Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller secretly orchestrated the Venezuelan gang members’ flights to El Salvador to get the criminals out of the country before an activist judge could take action.
Brilliant.
According to Axios, the Trump administration *ignored* the court… pic.twitter.com/oojJSyxWgL
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) March 16, 2025
Boasberg has demanded that the U.S. Dept. of Justice (DOJ) respond by midday Tuesday to questions regarding what time the planes took off and landed and where.
The judge has also demanded to know how many people the DOJ believes are covered by the 18th Century law under which the Venezuelan gang members were detained and deported.
Another hearing is scheduled for Friday at Noon ET.
This district judge can demand whatever he wants but I think it might be time for the Trump administration to tell him to go pound sand-- he has no Constitutional basis for his order or his authority to make those demands. Judicial activists constantly overreach and the showdown over the separation of powers it is long overdue.