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GOP Congressman Wants to Impeach Judge Behind 'Alien Enemies' Order Trump Defied
"The U.S. continues its racist slide toward authoritarian practices," Amnesty International USA said of the administration ignoring the court decision.
Mar 16, 2025
As part of elected Republicans and billionaires' assault on the federal judiciary, a GOP congressman on Saturday night pledged to file articles of impeachment against a chief judge who issued an order against U.S. President Donald Trump's invocation of an 18th-century wartime power—a court decision that the administration intentionally ignored.
In a post on X—the social media platform owned by Trump's billionaire adviser Elon Musk—Rep. Brandon Gill (R-Texas) shared the New York Post's coverage of the Saturday court order and said, "I'll be filing articles of impeachment against activist Judge James Boasberg this week."
Gill's post garnered support from multiple other Republicans in the House of Representatives as well as Musk, who has endorsed GOP lawmakers' previous efforts to impeach other federal judges who have ruled against his and Trump's agenda.
Boasberg on Saturday issued a nationwide temporary restraining order in response to legal groups challenging Trump's attempt to use the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 for deportations. The judge, who was appointed to the district court in Washington, D.C. by former President Barack Obama, ordered any planes in the air to turn around.
However, "the Trump administration says it ignored a Saturday court order to turn around two planeloads of alleged Venezuelan gang members because the flights were over international waters and therefore the ruling didn't apply," Axiosreported Sunday, citing two senior officials.
While leading legal groups argue that Trump's attempted use of the law—previously invoked to send thousands of people to internment camps during World War II—is illegal, a senior White House official told Axios: "This is headed to the Supreme Court. And we're going to win."
Axios' reporting came after U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele's signaled early Sunday on X that despite Boasberg's order, hundreds of alleged members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua were sent to El Salvador—which the Trump administration will pay $6 million a year to imprison them, according toThe Associated Press.
Also sharing the Post reporting on Boasberg's order, Bukele wrote, "Oopsie… Too late," with an emoji crying from laughing. Separately, the Salvadoran leader posted a video of the prisoners' arrival—which Rubio responded to, saying, "Thank you for your assistance and friendship, President Bukele."
Bukele and Rubio noted that the Trump administration also sent to El Salvador over 20 alleged members of the gang MS-13.
The Trump administration's defiance of the judge's directive sparked fresh warnings about what lies ahead. Amnesty International USA said Sunday on X that "the United States is defying a court order in order to accelerate the complete erosion of human rights for Venezuelans seeking safety."
"This is yet another example of the Trump administration's racist targeting, detaining, and deporting of Venezuelans—many of whom haven't even been ordered deported—based on sweeping claims of gang affiliation," the human rights group added. "The U.S. continues its racist slide toward authoritarian practices."
Even before the defiance this weekend, the pro-democracy group Free Speech for People argued that the administration's recent "oversteps of the judiciary branch" provide new grounds for Congress to launch another impeachment investigation in the twice-impeached president.
Trump went into the weekend doubling down on his attacks on the judicial system with Friday remarks at the U.S. Department of Justice that triggered widespread alarm. ACLU executive director Anthony Romero—whose group is involved in the challenge against the 1798 law—said in a statement about the president's speech that "it's increasingly clear that we're entering a modern McCarthy moment. When the government is targeting a former ambassador, a legal permanent resident, law firms, and even universities and treating them like enemies of the state, it is a dark day for American democracy."
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Rubio Slammed for Expelling South African Ambassador Over Trump Criticism
"It underscores that his critiques of white supremacy in the Age of Trump are perceived as threatening for one simple reason: He's right."
Mar 15, 2025
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has faced a flood of condemnation since announcing on social media Friday that "South Africa's ambassador to the United States is no longer welcome in our great country."
"Ebrahim Rasool is a race-baiting politician who hates America and hates President Donald Trump," the secretary claimed. "We have nothing to discuss with him and so he is considered PERSONA NON GRATA."
In the post on X—the social media site owned by Elon Musk, Trump's South Africa-born billionaire adviser—Rubio linked to an article by the right-wing news site Breitbart about Rasool saying during a Friday webinar that the U.S. president is leading global a white supremacist movement.
As examples of Trump's "Make America Great Again" movement exporting its "supremacist assault," Rasool pointed to Musk elevating Nigel Farage, leader of the far-right Reform U.K. party, and Vice President JD Vance meeting with the leader of the neo-Nazi Alternative for Germany party.
Responding to Rubio on X, North Carolina State University assistant teaching professor Nathan Lean said: "Ebrahim Rasool is a man of genuine decency, moral courage, and is a friend. This makes me absolutely embarrassed to be an American. And it underscores that his critiques of white supremacy in the Age of Trump are perceived as threatening for one simple reason: He's right."
The Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC) similarly responded: "Ambassador Ebrahim Rasool is a principled leader who fought alongside Nelson Mandela against apartheid and has dedicated his career to democracy, interfaith cooperation, and justice. Baseless attacks like this only serve to divide. We stand by him and his lifelong commitment to building a more just and inclusive world."
Laila Al-Arian, executive producer of Al Jazeera's "Fault Lines," declared that "this administration is virulently and unabashedly Islamophobic, not even trying to hide how unhinged they are as they go after people for speech."
Rasool previously served as ambassador during the Obama administration and returned to the role shortly before Trump began his second term. Earlier this week, Semafor reported on his difficulties dealing with the current administration:
He has failed to secure routine meetings with State Department officials and key Republican figures since Trump took office in January, Washington and South African government insiders told Semafor, drawing frustration in Pretoria.
Rasool is likely to have been frozen out for his prior vocal criticism of Israel, a South African diplomat, based in Washington, told Semafor. "A man named Ebrahim, who is Muslim, with a history of pro-Palestine politics, is not likely to do well in that job right now," said one of them. While South Africa brought a case against Israel to the International Court of Justice in December 2023, accusing it of genocide in Gaza, Rasool is nevertheless widely considered to be among the government's most ardent pro-Palestine voices.
South African political analyst Sandile Swana told Al Jazeera on Friday that the "core of the dispute" with the diplomatic was the genocide case against U.S.-armed Israel. In the fight against apartheid, the U.S. "supported the apartheid regime," said Swana. "Rasool continues to point out the behaviour of the United States, even now is to support apartheid and genocide."
Other critics also pointed to the ongoing court battle over Israel's utter destruction of Gaza and mass slaughter of Palestinians.
Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) national executive director Nihad Awad told Rubio: "Your declaration of Ambassador Ebrahim Rasool as persona non grata is a racist, Islamophobic, transparent act of retaliation for South Africa's opposition to Israel's genocide in Gaza."
Imraan Siddiqi, a former congressional candidate in Washington who now leads the state's branch of CAIR, said that "he stood up firmly against apartheid, so it's no coincidence you're punishing him in favor of an openly apartheid state."
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa's office said in a statement Saturday that "the presidency has noted the regrettable expulsion of South Africa's ambassador to the United States of America, Mr. Ebrahim Rasool.
"The presidency urges all relevant and impacted stakeholders to maintain the established diplomatic decorum in their engagement with the matter," the office added. "South Africa remains committed to building a mutually beneficial relationship with the United States of America."
The diplomat's expulsion follows Trump signing an executive order last month that frames South Africa's land law as "blatant discrimination" against the country's white minority. Writing about the order for Foreign Policy in Focus, Zeb Larson and William Minter noted that "his actions echo a long history of right-wing support in the United States for racism in Southern Africa, including mobilization of support for white Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) as well as the apartheid regime in South Africa."
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Experts Warn Trump Legal Claims for Mahmoud Khalil Arrest Portend Rise of Fascist Police State
"This targeting sends a chilling message to people across this country, on and off campuses, that anyone exercising their rights will be subject to repression, detention, and possible deportation," said one advocate.
Mar 12, 2025
As a federal judge on Wednesday extended an order temporarily banning the deportation of Mahmoud Khalil and new details emerged about the Trump administration's arguments for trying to expel him, legal experts and other commentators continued to express alarm over the targeting of the green-card holder involved with pro-Palestinian protests at Columbia University last year.
In a Wednesday statement, Legal Defense Fund president and director-counsel Janai Nelson cited President Donald Trump's recent Truth Social post that described Khalil as "a Radical Foreign Pro-Hamas Student" and pledged that "this is the first arrest of many to come."
Nelson warned that "the arrest of Mahmoud Khalil, and President Trump's promise that there will be more arrests to come, is a chilling presentiment that raises serious concerns about this administration's misuse of immigration enforcement personnel to curtail and punish constitutionally protected First Amendment activity. The Trump administration's tactics aim to stoke fear and signal that dissent will result in harmful immigration consequences and other forms of oppression that may include surveillance, violence, detainment, and even potential deportation."
"The law is clear," she stressed. "The First Amendment guarantees demonstrators the right to peacefully assemble and dissent without government retaliation. We demand due process and human and civil rights protections for Mr. Khalil and all lawful protesters. His treatment should alarm everyone who believes in the primacy of the U.S. Constitution and, especially, First Amendment freedom and equal protection under law."
Khalil, an Algerian citizen of Palestinian descent, finished his studies at Columbia in December. He was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in New York City on Saturday while returning home with his pregnant wife, a U.S. citizen who said that "ICE officers hung up the phone on our lawyer." He is being held at an immigration detention center in Jena, Louisiana.
The Washington Postreported Wednesday that "a determination by Secretary of State Marco Rubio is so far the Trump administration's sole justification for trying to deport" him. The newpaper obtained a notice informing Khalil that he faces deportation under the Immigration and Nationality Act because Rubio "has reasonable ground to believe that your presence or activities in the United States would have potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences for the United States."
Rubio on Wednesday suggested to reporters that Khalil supports Hamas, which has goverened the Gaza Strip for nearly two decades and is designated as a terrorist group by the United States. The secretary said that "this is not about free speech. This is about people that don't have a right to be in the United States to begin with... No one has a right to a green card."
Khalil's lawyers said in a Monday filing that as a Palestinian, he "has felt compelled to be an outspoken advocate for the human rights of Palestinians, including on the campus of Columbia University," and "he is committed to calling on the rest of the world to protect the rights of Palestinians under international law and to stop enabling violence against Palestinians."
Last year's protests at Columbia and other campuses came as Israeli forces responded to a Hamas-led attack on Israel by waging a devstating U.S.-backed military assault on Palestinians in Gaza, resulting in widespread allegations of genocide.
The administration's attempt to deport Khalil and Trump's signal that other pro-Palestinian advocates will face similar attacks have provoked intense outrage. Khalil's legal team includes lawyers with the ACLU and the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR), which launched proceedings challenging his detention and seeking his return to New York.
"This is clearly an attempt to deport Mahmoud by exploiting a vague and overly broad provision of U.S. immigration law," CCR's Brad Parker told the Post. "This provision, if not reined in, will be exploited to pursue the deportation of anyone who disagrees with the administration's foreign policy agenda. This is not about security, this is about absolute executive power and repression."
Paul O'Brien, executive director at Amnesty International USA, also weighed in with Wednesday statement, calling Khalil's arrest "another attack on human rights by the Trump administration" and emphasizing that "each and every one of us—regardless of immigration status—has the right to peaceful assembly, freedom of expression, and due process."
"Targeting and threatening peaceful protesters and their immigration status for the content of their protest, such as advocating for the human rights of Palestinians, is a violation of human rights," he said. "This targeting sends a chilling message to people across this country, on and off campuses, that anyone exercising their rights will be subject to repression, detention, and possible deportation. And for the immigrant communities already living in fear throughout the U.S., they are now only further pushed into the shadows with fear that they could be deported for speaking out."
In addition to demanding Khalil's immediate release, O'Brien called on universities to "take steps to protect their immigrant students from ICE enforcement and ensure that the human rights of all of their students and faculty to protest in support of Palestinian rights and other issues is respected and protected."
As Common Dreams reported earlier Wednesday, Khalil's wife said in a detailed account of their recent experiences that her husband had emailed Columbia University the day before his arrest, seeking legal support, and had never heard back.
Jeffrey C. Isaac, a political science professor at Indiana University Bloomington, argued in a Wednesday opinion piece for Common Dreams that "this is not about Hamas or Palestine or Israel or antisemitism. It is about the crackdown on dissent. Period. Foreign 'agitators,' American 'agitators,' it makes no difference."
"The arrest of Khalil Mahmoud is an offense to every citizen of the United States, and it sets a precedent that endangers us all," Isaac added. "Trump is turning the United States into a police state."
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