Trump administration debates invoking 'state secrets privilege' around deportation flights

U.S. President Donald Trump speaks along the southern border with Mexico, on Aug. 22, 2024, in Sierra Vista, Ariz. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

WASHINGTON — Top leaders of U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration are debating whether to invoke a “state secrets privilege” in response to a judge’s questions about deportation flights carrying Venezuelan immigrants to El Salvador, a U.S. Justice Department official informed the judge on Friday ahead of a hearing.

Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a court filing that there are “ongoing Cabinet-level discussions” about Chief Judge James Boasberg’s demand for more information. The district judge ordered the Trump administration to either provide more details about the flights or assert a claim that disclosing the information would harm “state secrets.”

The Republican administration has largely resisted the judge’s request, calling it an “unnecessary judicial fishing” expedition. Boasberg dismissed its response as “woefully insufficient,” increasing the possibility that he may hold administration officials in contempt of court.

Government lawyers filed Blanche’s sworn statement hours before the judge was scheduled to hold a hearing for the case on Friday in Washington.

The Trump administration has transferred hundreds of Venezuelan immigrants to El Salvador under an 18th century wartime law. Flights were in the air on March 15 when Boasberg issued an order temporarily barring the deportations and ordered planes to return to the U.S.

The Justice Department has said that the judge’s oral directions did not count, that only his written order needed to be followed and that it couldn’t apply to flights that had already left the U.S.

Trump and many Republican allies have called for impeaching Boasberg, who was nominated by President Barack Obama, a Democrat. In a rare statement earlier this week, Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts said “impeachment is not an appropriate response to disagreement concerning a judicial decision.”

Michael Kunzelman, The Associated Press