Secretary of State Marco Rubio says the Trump administration cannot carry out a federal judge’s order requiring deported Venezuelan migrants to get a chance to challenge their removal in court.
In a sworn declaration, Rubio argued that bringing the migrants back to the United States — or arranging remote hearings from Venezuela — is not workable in the wake of the capture of Venezuela’s authoritarian leader Nicolás Maduro earlier this month. Rubio said attempting to comply could “risk material damage to U.S. foreign policy interests” in Venezuela.
“The United States remains involved to see changes in Venezuela that are beneficial to the United States and that it also expects will be beneficial for the people of Venezuela, who have suffered tremendously,” Rubio said in the declaration. He added that U.S. efforts involve “ongoing, intensive, and extraordinarily delicate engagement” with figures inside the post-Maduro government, including Maduro’s successor, “so-called Acting President Delcy Rodríguez.”
U.S. District Judge James Boasberg previously directed the administration to either return 137 migrants — out of more than 240 deportees — for court hearings in the United States, or arrange remote proceedings from Venezuela. Boasberg said the migrants were denied due process and were not given a meaningful chance to challenge their deportations in federal court.
Rubio contended that “given the passage of time,” the government no longer knows “the whereabouts of class members,” including whether any have left Venezuela or been taken back into custody by the government there. Anticipating that Boasberg could rule against the administration, officials also asked the judge to pause any enforcement while an appeal moves forward.
