CNN political analyst Elie Honig is questioning President Trump over his recent deflection on how the 1798 Alien Enemies Act was invoked by the administration to speed up the deportation of Venezuelan migrants allegedly linked to gang activity.
Trump, speaking to reporters on Friday, suggested that “other people” handled the proclamation, pointing to Secretary of State Marco Rubio. He added that Rubio “has done a great job, and he wanted them out and we go along with that … We want to get criminals out of our country.”
Asked by CNN’s Kaitlan Collins what he believes the president was referring to, Honig brushed off the White House’s argument that he was referring to the original law.
“Was he telling us that, ‘I’m not John Adams, the guy who signed it back in 1798?’ … The obvious thing he was saying here is, “I did not sign this proclamation that was used last week to deport these aliens,” Honig said Friday on CNN’s “The Source.”
“If that’s true, if Donald Trump did not actually sign that proclamation, it’s a big problem because the law specifically requires a proclamation by the president,” he added.
The 4-page proclamation does appear to have Trump’s signature, according to a copy filed in the Federal Register.
Honig’s critique comes as the Trump administration is entrenched in a legal battle over whether the recent deportation flights are legal under the 18th century law. U.S. District Judge James Boasberg sought to block the president from invoking the law, but the flights to El Salvador of migrants accused of being part of the Tren de Aragua gang continued.
The federal judge lashed out at the administration for violating his order and requested the planes to be turned around. Officials argued that since the flights were outside of U.S. airways when the directive was made, Boasberg had no right to intervene. Trump later called for his impeachment.
On Friday, the judge vowed “to get to the bottom” of the issue, after the Justice Department resisted his demands for more information about the flights, citing national security concerns and accusing him of encroaching on the executive branch’s authority.
Honig seemingly agreed with the judge, citing “a couple of flaws” in the administration’s argument for invoking the law.
“First of all, there has to be an invasion, and it has to be by a foreign government,” Honig said. “And Donald Trump, if you look at the proclamation, which maybe he did or didn’t sign, tries to sort of put together a very stretched argument that, ‘Yes, this was an invasion, yes, it was somehow tied with the Government of Venezuela.'”
He acknowledged that while most people do not want violent criminals in the country, those in the U.S. illegally could be deported under normal statutes.
“But instead, they’re using this 1798 law, they’re stretching the definitions beyond all belief,” he continued. “And that’s why the judge, Boasberg, today, expressed skepticism.”
