The decision by President Donald Trump's administration to deport immigrants in defiance of a federal judge's order could be a sign that the rule of law is disappearing in the United States, according to one prominent anti-Trump conservative.
In a Monday interview with CNN host Dana Bash, Sarah Longwell — the publisher of conservative news outlet the Bulwark — didn't mince words when asked about the implications of Trump's Department of Homeland Security (DHS) carrying out two deportation flights despite U.S. District Judge James Boasberg ordering the DHS to turn the planes around. Longwell asserted that if this becomes a pattern, it would grave implications for the fundamental pillars of the American system of government.
"The courts have become, in this moment, one of the last refuges of sort of being able to hold Trump either accountable or stop some of the things he's doing," she said. "He is going so fast to try to dismantle the government or implement his deportation policies that he's showing a lot of disregard for the law."
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On Monday, the administration argued during a hearing in Boasberg's courtroom that the order didn't apply as the deportation flights were already over international waters, and that the order only applied within U.S. borders. Government attorneys also alleged that the communication with the plane's pilots was delayed, and that by the time pilots were made aware of Boasberg's order, the flights had already landed. Boasberg particularly took issue with the administration carrying out the deportations under the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, and ruled that it was illegal to consider the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua the equivalent of a hostile foreign government.
The Bulwark publisher argued that many in her camp feared that one hallmark of a second Trump term would be the outright refusal to ignore orders from federal judges who struck down his policies. And she opined that Trump specifically chose to fight this battle over a pair of deportation flights for alleged gang members from Venezuela.
"A lot of people are going to be like, 'I don't care about deporting gang members. These are bad people.' Now, we don't know exactly. We're not sure that they're gang members. We're just taking their word for it," Longwell explained. "But it looks like they are starting to be at the point where they want to ignore what judges say, which once you get to that point, once you have a president who's just disregarding what judges say, you're in a totally lawless state."
Watch Longwell's segment below, or by clicking this link.
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