GOP Congressman Plans Impeachment Articles Against Judge Who Blocked Trump’s Venezuelan Gang Member Deportations
Texas GOP Rep. Brandon Gill announced plans to file articles of impeachment against Judge James Boasberg, an Obama appointee, after the judge issued a restraining order halting President Donald Trump’s expedited deportation of Venezuelan gang members, Fox News reports.
Gill said on X that he would file the motion this week. Elon Musk, the entrepreneur and recent advisor to Trump, responded to Gill’s announcement with a simple, “Necessary.”
Musk elaborated in a subsequent post on Monday:
“The very worst judges – those who repeatedly flout the law – should at least be put to an impeachment vote, whether that vote succeeds or not.”
The Republican outcry stems from Boasberg’s 14-day restraining order, which prevents the Trump administration from deporting Venezuelan gang members who entered the US illegally. Trump’s deportation efforts were based on the Alien Enemies Act, a law passed in 1798 that grants the president broad powers to imprison or deport non-citizens during times of war.
The Alien Enemies Act, last used during World War II, was enacted in anticipation of a potential conflict with France due to concerns about immigrant loyalty.
Boasberg’s ruling was in response to a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the left-leaning legal advocacy group Democracy Forward. The lawsuit challenged Trump’s use of “wartime authority” to deport the gang members, arguing that the US is not currently engaged in a “declared war.”
The lawsuit followed a proclamation signed by Trump on Saturday, which asserted that violent gang members belonging to the Venezuelan-based Tren de Aragua (TdA) gang were “conducting irregular warfare and undertaking hostile actions against the United States.” Trump had previously moved to designate TdA and several Mexican drug cartels as “Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTOs)” last month.
