White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller schooled CNN anchor Kasie Hunt about whether President Donald Trump had the right to deport hundreds of suspected Venezuelan gang members to El Salvador, which a judge had tried to block.
On Saturday, United States District Judge James Boasberg ordered the Trump administration to return any flights carrying the suspected gang members. But the Trump administration declared that the flights were already over international waters, and thus, Boasberg’s order was not applicable. On Monday, Boasberg ordered the Trump administration’s Department of Justice to provide a sworn declaration providing additional justifications for the deportation flights.
Prior to his confrontation with Hunt, Miller had already stated that Boasberg’s initial order was “patently unlawful. Beyond unlawful, it was an outrageous assault on the Constitution, an outrageous assault on the sovereignty of the nation and on democracy itself.”
“You called the judge’s order just earlier today, quote, ‘patently unlawful,’ and said that it was an assault on democracy itself. Does that mean that the administration is ignoring this order? And might you ignore future court orders that meet the criteria you laid out?” Hunt asked.
“The president of the United States and his administration reserve all rights under the Constitution to conduct national security operations in defense of the United States,” Miller replied. “The Alien Enemies Act, which was passed into law by the founding generation of this country, men like John Adams, was written explicitly to give the president the authority to repel an alien invasion of the United States. That is not something that a district court judge has any authority whatsoever to interfere with, to enjoin, to restrict, or to restrain in any way. You can read the law yourself. There’s not one clause in that law that makes it subject to judicial review, let alone district court review.”
“At what point does it become, in your view, legal for the justice system to be looking at this and making a judgment? And I fail to see how there’s any other way but to start with where we’re starting here before you get to eventually the Supreme Court,” Hunt posited.
Miller then explained how the law works, answering, “There’s a term in law, justiciable. This is not justiciable. In other words, this is not subject to judicial remedy. When the president is exercising his Article II powers to defend the country against an invasion or to repel a foreign terrorist that is unlawfully in the country, he’s exercising his core Article II powers as commander-in-chief.”
“Is Venezuela invading the U.S.?” Hunt asked.
“This is a very important point. This is a Title 50 authority. It’s a commander-in-chief authority. So, just to ask you a simple question. You talk about how the system works. Does a district court judge have the right to direct or enjoin troop movements overseas? Yes or no?” Miller asked bluntly.
“Is Venezuela — is Venezuela invading our country in a way that would apply in a way?” Hunt pressed.
“I’ll answer yours and you’ll answer mine,” Miller said, then stated, “Under the terms of the statute, Tren de Aragua is an alien enemy force that has come here as detailed at length in the proclamation at the direction of the Venezuelan government. The statute says that a president has the ability to repel an invasion or predatory incursion that is directed —”
“By a state or a government, right? Are they a state or a government?” Hunt interjected.
“Yes, it is documented,” Miller fired back. “The TDA was sent by the Venezuelan government in the proclamation. And here’s an even more important point. Under the Constitution, who makes that determination? A district court judge elected by no one or the commander in chief of the Army and Navy? The president and the president alone makes a decision of what triggers that determination.
“So, do you think we are actually at war with Venezuela, the nation-state of Venezuela?” Hunt patronized.
“You’re not hearing me and you’re not understanding me,” Miller answered. “Read the statute. Alien Enemies Act 1798. It says if a predatory incursion is perpetrated by a foreign government. So it lists the three qualifying actions, it could be an act of war.”
Hunt tried debating, “It does say in the very beginning there has to be a declared war against a nation or a state. That’s what it says.”
Miller crushed the response: “No. Wrong. Look up the statute. It’s on my account on social media … it says or a predatory incursion, or an invasion. The statute delineates three criteria for triggering the Alien Enemies Act. One is an act of war, which, by the way, an invasion is an act of war. But put that aside. One is an invasion, which this is. One is a predatory incursion, which this is. So it actually meets all three statutory criteria. But with respect to this particular statute, it’s the proclamation is utilizing the incursion and invasion language in the statute.”
“A district court judge can no more enjoin the expulsion of foreign terrorists to foreign soil, that he can direct the movement of Air Force One, that he can direct the movement of an aircraft carrier, that he can direct Marco Rubio to engage,” Miller pointed out. “How are you going to expel illegal alien invaders from our country who are raping little girls, who are murdering little girls, if each and every deportation has to be adjudicated in a district court judge? And that means you have no country. It means you have no sovereignty. It means you have no future. It is fundamentally incompatible to have a country and have individual expulsions adjudicated by a single district court judge.”
“By the way,” Miller said later, “These same district court judges didn’t do a damn thing to stop Joe Biden from flooding this nation with millions of illegal aliens. Did these district court judges issue any injunctions to save the lives of Jocelyn Nungaray, Laken Riley, or anyone else?”
“I asked you a question, you never answered it,” Miller stated. “Can a judge enjoin troop movements overseas? Can a district court judge enjoin troop movements overseas? Yes or no? … Just say no and then you’ll know that I’m right.”
“I am outraged that you have Democrats defending Tren de Aragua instead of celebrating President Trump expelling these terrorists from our midst. And I’m glad for the opportunity to explain how the separation of powers does work,” he concluded.
WATCH IN FULL: White House Deputy Chief of Staff @StephenM schools Fake News CNN’s @kasie on the Constitution, the separation of powers, and the rule of law. pic.twitter.com/2TMnKyBLwk
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) March 17, 2025
