After Chief U.S. District Judge James Boasberg, appointed by President BarackObama, issued an order on Saturday halting President Donald Trump’s swift deportation of Venezuelan gang members, Texas GOP Rep. Brandon Gill quickly revealed his intention to file articles of impeachment to remove him. Gill shared his plan on X (formerly Twitter) on Saturday, stating that he would be filing the motion later this week. In a follow-up tweet from Elon Musk, the entrepreneur-turned-Trump advisor simply responded, “Necessary.”
“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,” Musk followed up in a separate post on X Monday. Republicans have been criticizing Judge Boasberg following his issuance of a 14-day restraining order that halted the Trump administration’s deportation of violent Venezuelan gang members who entered the U.S. illegally, using powers granted by the centuries-old Alien Enemies Act, Fox News reported.
The Alien Enemies Act, last used during World War II, was initially implemented in anticipation of a potential war with France, driven by concerns that immigrants might sympathize with the French. The law grants the president sweeping authority to imprison or deport noncitizens during wartime. “Another day, another judge unilaterally deciding policy for the whole country. This time to benefit foreign gang members,” Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, posted on X. “If the Supreme Court or Congress doesn’t fix, we’re headed towards a constitutional crisis. Senate Judiciary Cmte taking action.”
Boasberg’s ruling followed a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the left-leaning legal advocacy group Democracy Forward. The lawsuit argued that Trump’s plan to use his “wartime authority” to deport dangerous illegal immigrants was unlawful, as the U.S. is not currently in a “declared war.”
The lawsuit followed a proclamation signed by Trump on Saturday, which alleged 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.” Last month, Trump moved to designate a slew of Mexican drug cartels, including TdA, as “Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTOs),” Fox added.
