Gov. Ron DeSantis participated in a roundtable discussion on Thursday at New College of Florida in Sarasota alongside U.S. "Border Czar" Tom Homan to discuss the recent deportation flights of alleged Venezuelan gang members by the Trump administration.
Tom Homan explained the order after President Donald Trump invoked the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to deport supposed members of Tren De Aragua, a prison gang with alleged ties to Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. Used only three times in history and the first since World War II, the Alien Enemies Act authorizes the U.S. to detain or deport nationals of an enemy nation during wartime or an invasion.
"He [Trump] is taking his executive privilege in invoking that Alien Enemies Act which is the right thing [to do]. There's been numerous investigations, deep investigations. We know that Tren De Aragua came to this country to unsettle this country and are connected to the Maduro regime's military and law enforcement," Homan said.
"They came to this country to commit violent crimes, to spread fentanyl, kill thousands of Americans, create havoc, and unsettle this nation. The president took his authority through executive action and we invoked the Alien Enemies Act. It's the right thing to do. TDA [Tren De Aragua] is an enemy of the United States," Homan continued.
President Donald Trump made illegal immigration and border security a top priority in his second bid at the White House. Homan added getting rid of Tren De Aragua is a "priority" of the Trump administration due to criminal, public, and national security threats.
"We are going to do everything we can to get every single TDA member out of this country as quick as we can to save American lives," Homan added.
Hours after the proclamation, U.S. District Judge James Boasberg blocked Trump's order even as some deportation fights were in the air. Although one of the flights was still able to land in El Salvador.
Notably, James Boasberg was first appointed by then-President George W. Bush as an associate judge of the Superior Court of the District of Columbia. Former President Barack Obama also nominated him to the district court for the District of Columbia.
Gov. Ron DeSantis criticized the U.S. Supreme Court for not acting sooner to reign in on district judges, particularly after the ruling against Trump's measure. DeSantis himself also has cracked down on illegal immigration in Florida.
"The U.S. Supreme Court had a chance to nip all this in the butt about a month ago. They could have just been aggressive and put these district judges in their place. These three liberal justices, they're always going to be against no matter what. Of the six others, a lot of them are not reliable," DeSantis said.
DeSantis specifically mentioned Conservative Justice John Roberts, who recently rebuked Trump after he called to impeach judges who ruled against his administration, as being unreliable. He also criticized Justice Amy Coney Barrett, who ruled in a 5-4 decision against the Trump administration's attempt to freeze $2 billion in foreign aid
On the other hand, DeSantis praised Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito as reliable.
"The principle is are we ruled by the consent of the govern under elections and under a written constitution? Or are we ruled by a district judge in D.C., Hawaii, wherever the hell they can shop for a judge to fine somebody, and then that Trump's everything that is in the constitution in terms of executive powers?" DeSantis said. "That's what they will keep doing if you let that happen."
