Trump administration invoking state secrets privilege over deportation flight information sought by federal judge

Top Justice Department officials told a federal judge on Monday that the Trump administration is invoking the state secrets privilege to avoid giving him information about deportation flights from earlier this month that are at the center of a legal dispute over whether the government flouted his judicial commands.

Top Justice Department officials told a federal judge on Monday that the Trump administration is invoking the state secrets privilege to avoid giving him information about deportation flights from earlier this month that are at the center of a legal dispute over whether the government flouted his judicial commands. “The Court has all of the facts it needs to address the compliance issues before it,” Attorney General Pam Bondi and other top DOJ officials wrote in a filing to US District Judge James Boasberg. “Further intrusions on the Executive Branch would present dangerous and wholly unwarranted separation-of-powers harms with respect to diplomatic and national security concerns that the Court lacks competence to address.” “The information sought by the Court is subject to the state secrets privilege because disclosure would pose reasonable danger to national security and foreign affairs,” the officials wrote in the 10-page filing. Boasberg is seeking the information to determine whether the government violated a pair of temporary restraining orders he issued on March 15 that temporarily blocked President Donald Trump’s use of the Alien Enemies Act to quickly deport individuals the administration has accused of being members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua. The judge had ordered any flights containing noncitizens being deported pursuant to Trump’s directive to turn around immediately, but it quickly emerged that the administration appeared to have violated his command by allowing two deportation flights to continue the evening of March 15. Included in the Monday evening filing were declarations from Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem who said that disclosing the information sought by Boasberg would harm US national security or foreign relations.