When 26 Republican-led states argued Tuesday that a federal appeals court should uphold President Donald Trump’s deportation plan targeting members of the Venezuela-based Tren de Aragua gang, Wyoming was not among them.
That was because of the extreme short notice of the amicus brief, Wyoming Attorney General Bridget Hill told Cowboy State Daily in a Wednesday email.
“The fact that I am not on this particular brief should not be read as lack of support for President Trump's efforts to deport dangerous criminals,” wrote Hill. “Both I and the Governor are in support of those efforts.”
Hill wasn’t able to review the brief in time to add her signature to it since it had a “very short turnaround time and I had other matters I was handling,” she said. “I do not add my signature to briefs I do not have time to review.”
In a Saturday proclamation, Trump says Tren de Aragua is a “Foreign Terrorist Organization with thousands of members, many of whom have unlawfully infiltrated the United States and are conducting irregular warfare and undertaking hostile actions against the United States.”
The brief’s goal is to convince the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia to undo U.S. District Judge James Boasberg’s Saturday-evening temporary restraining order, telling the Trump administration to direct two flights carrying noncitizens back to the United States.
About 45 minutes later, the first of the two flights landed in Honduras, sparking controversy about the separation of powers.
Temporary restraining orders are rapid, early reactions to government actions that are designed to give more time for review. They’re not a final finding on whether those actions are constitutional.
“There will be additional opportunities to support President Trump's efforts in the actual merits portion of this case and I will consider those opportunities at that time,” said Hill.
Gov. Mark Gordon echoed Hill’s statements about the timing issue with the brief, and said via his spokesman Michael Pearlman that both he and Hill are “in complete support of the deportation of dangerous criminals from the United States.”
Pearlman added: “The Governor also has a consistent record of supporting immigration enforcement efforts, including sending resources to help Texas secure the border.”
Where Are Gang Members?
The states signing on to the brief attested to Tren de Aragua, or Venezuelan gang, activity in their respective states.
The Laramie County Detention Center housed a suspected TdA member last summer. He’s since been handed to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody.
Other than that, Wyoming generally does not grab headlines for TdA activity.
Hill said her office isn’t aware of the gang working in Wyoming.
“We were aware of the individual in Laramie County that you mentioned. We are not aware of others,” she said.
Her office would document any verified information about TdA, she added.
“Although we are aware of activity in nearby states, at this time we have no information that TdA is setting up activities/operations in Wyoming,” said Hill.
The Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation said it monitors the gang’s activities in nearby states to determine whether they pose threats to Wyomingites or signal a migration into the Cowboy State. But it hasn’t documented Wyoming-based TdA activities in its cases, the agency said Wednesday.
ICE said it “cannot confirm or deny” TdA activities in Wyoming.
The Race
The states asking the appeals court to side with Trump say Judge Boasberg did not consider the public’s stake in the issue, and didn’t let the federal government argue its side of the issue.
The court also violated the separation of powers doctrine, the states argue in the brief.
They pointed to a TdA member’s “horrific murder of Laken Riley” and other murders, thefts, and harrowing crimes gang members have committed in the past year.
A set of noncitizen plaintiffs who challenged Trump’s order say Trump invoked a wartime law designed to deport nationals of countries with which the United States is at war to circumvent the processes in the Immigration and Nationality Act.
“The district court made clear that its order did not prevent the arrest and detention of any individual, mandate the release of any individual, or preclude removal under the immigration laws,” the noncitizen coalition wrote in its own argument to the appeals court.
Trump’s invocation of the act is “staggering,” the plaintiffs continued. “If the President can designate any group as enemy aliens under the Act, and that designation is unreviewable, then there is no limit on who can be sent to a Salvadoran prison, or any limit on how long they will remain there.”
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
