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By Sonam Sheth
Evening Politics Editor
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The Trump administration invoked "state secrets privilege" on Monday in response to a federal judge's order to provide further information on its deportation of more than 200 Venezuelan migrants to El Salvador this month.
The Context
Citing the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, the Trump administration carried out the deportations despite U.S. District Court Judge James Boasberg's verbal order instructing the government to hold off on deporting the Venezuelan nationals pending further legal proceedings.
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The Department of Justice (DOJ) has argued that the migrants who were deported have ties to the Tren de Aragua gang, though it has not provided ample evidence of an association.
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After the deportations, Boasberg asked lawyers for the DOJ to explain whether they had violated his order.
The judge also told the government to provide more information about the number of planes that took off, where they went, what time they took off, when they landed and how many people were transferred from each plane into the custody of the country in which they landed.
The DOJ subsequently informed the court that the Cabinet was discussing whether to invoke state secrets privilege over the information sought by Boasberg.
What To Know
State secrets privilege allows the U.S. government to withhold information if revealing it would harm national security.
In a Monday court filing, the Trump administration argued that the court "has all of the facts it needs to address the compliance issues before it."
"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 filing said. "Accordingly, the states secrets privilege forecloses further demands for details that have no place in this matter, and the government will address the Court's order to show cause tomorrow by demonstrating that there is no basis for the suggestion of noncompliance with any binding order."
The government's filing went on to say that "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."
Monday's filing was signed by Attorney General Pam Bondi, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, principal associate deputy attorney general Emil Bove and other top DOJ officials. Politico's Kyle Cheney reported that Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem also backed the invocation.
What People Are Saying
Mark Zaid, prominent national security lawyer and frequent Trump critic, wrote on X in response to the filing: "I've litigated multiple State Secrets cases & I'm one of select few attorneys in 75 years who defeated govt invocation. [The Supreme Court] made it clear when creating privilege that invocation does not require judges to abdicate their responsibility to question Executive Branch assertion."
Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, senior fellow at the American Immigration Council, wrote on X: "The 'state secrets' doctrine generally applies to things that are more sensitive than *classified* information. Here the government hasn't alleged any of this is classified. In fact, it involves conduct the government itself splashed across the media in an [sic] planned PR campaign!"
What Happens Next
The Trump administration is also separately taking the deportation flights case to appellate court in an effort to reinstate them.
Update 3/24/25, 10:45 p.m. ET: This article was updated with additional information.
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