The Trump administration has asked the D.C. Circuit Court for a stay of District Judge James Boasbergâs ruling that temporarily blocked the government from deporting Venezuelans using the Alien Enemies Act.
The White House contends that Boasberg lacked jurisdiction to enter the temporary restraining order, which the administration describes in a filing to the appellate court as âunprecedented.â
âThis Court should halt this massive, unauthorized imposition on the Executiveâs authority to remove people that Defendants had determined to be members of [Tren de Aragua], a group the President and the Secretary of State have found to be a threat to national security. This Court should halt this unprecedented intrusion upon the Executiveâs authority to remove dangerous aliens who pose grave threats to the American people,â wrote a DOJ attorney in an emergency motion for a stay.

Alleged members of the Venezuelan criminal organization Tren de Aragua who were deported by the U.S. government, are detained at the Terrorism Confinement Center in Tecoluca, El Salvador in a photo obtained Mar. 16, 2025.
Secretaria de Prensa de la Presidencia via Reuters
The government argues that Trumpâs actions in invoking the AEA âare not subject to judicial reviewâ and that there was âno lawful basisâ for the court to enjoin the implementation of the presidentâs proclamation.
âIf this TRO is allowed to stand,â the DOJ writes, âdistrict courts would have license to enjoin virtually any urgent national-security action upon bare receipt of a complaint.â
The D.C. Circuit ordered a response to the emergency motion to stay be filed by Tuesday at 5 p.m. by the attorneys representing the plaintiffs in the underlying case.
-ABC Newsâ James Hill