Tim Balk | New York Times
Where Things Stand
F.B.I. reorganization: Kash Patel, the F.B.I. director, is pushing ahead with a plan to decentralize the agency’s command structure and divide the bureau into three regions. Under the move, the top agents in 52 field offices around the country will no longer answer to the deputy director, a significant departure from the way the bureau has done business.
Alien Enemies Act: A federal judge on Saturday said the Trump administration must halt use of an obscure wartime law, called the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, to deport Venezuelans. The judge also ordered the return of any planes that had departed the United States with immigrants under the order. Read more ›
Kennedy Center: President Trump is seeking changes that will allow him greater influence in the selection of Kennedy Center honorees, according to two people briefed on the matter who were granted anonymity to describe confidential discussions. Since 1978, the Kennedy Center has selected honorees to be recognized each year at a star-studded televised gala without interference from the White House. Read more ›
A federal judge on Saturday ordered the Trump administration to cease use of an obscure wartime law to deport Venezuelans without a hearing, saying that any planes that had departed the United States with immigrants under the law needed to return.
As of early Sunday morning, it was unclear whether any such planes had departed or returned.
Lee Gelernt, a lawyer for the American Civil Liberties Union, said in an interview that he believed two flights carrying Venezuelan immigrants out of the country under President Trump’s order were “in the air” on Saturday evening. During a hearing, Judge James E. Boasberg said he was ordering the government to turn flights around given “information, unrebutted by the government, that flights are actively departing.”
Judge James E. Boasberg said at a hearing on Saturday that he intended to issue a broad temporary order preventing the Trump administration from using the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to deport any “noncitizens in U.S. custody.”
The judge said that “these are hard questions” but that he did not believe the law offered grounds for the president’s order. He said that the terms “invasion” and “predatory incursion” in the law “really relate to hostile acts perpetrated by enemy nations.”
He said that any flights that had departed with people under the order needed to return to the United States “however that’s accomplished — whether turning around the plane or not.” He urged the government: “This is something you need to make sure is complied with immediately.”