Blue sanctuary state operating as ‘control’ center for vicious migrant gang: acting DEA chief
Lax immigration policies in deep blue Colorado are helping Tren de Aragua, one of the most vicious migrant gangs in America, to use the state as a “command and control” center, according to the acting head of the DEA. A representative for the DEA Rocky Mountain Division confirmed with Fox News statements by DEA Acting Administrator Derek Maltz on local outlet Denver 7, in which Maltz said Colorado is “ground zero for some of the most violent criminals in America,” including Tren de Aragua’s leadership. Tren de Aragua – also known by its acronym “TdA” – is a violent Venezuelan criminal group that has been linked to some of the most egregious crimes in America in recent years, including the murder of nursing student Laken Riley and the capturing of an apartment building in Aurora, Colorado. On his first day in office, President Donald Trump signed an executive order directing the State Department to designate TdA a “foreign terrorist organization.” ‘ON NOTICE’: EX-VENEZUELAN MILITARY OFFICIAL APPLAUDS TRUMP’S ‘FIRST GOOD STEP’ TARGETING BLOODTHIRSTY GANG “Now, we are learning that the command and control for TdA in the entire United States of America is right here in Colorado,” Maltz told the outlet. He said this information was based on new intelligence from the “men and women on the front lines and what we’re seeing.” Maltz said the laws of Democratic-run Colorado have allowed TdA and other criminals to “take advantage of vulnerabilities and weaknesses” to perpetuate their crimes. “Anybody that thinks it’s a good idea to open up the border to adversaries around the world and then not even know who they are coming into our communities, it makes no sense,” he said, adding, “People in this state have allowed illegal violent criminals in here at record levels.” ‘BRING IT ON’: SHERIFF PUSHES BACK AFTER BLUE STATE LEADERS SUE TO STOP IMMIGRATION ENFORCEMENT Maltz called on state leaders to stop playing politics and instead help take violent criminal immigrants off the streets. “The politics have to stop. This is not a red or blue issue, this is a red, white and blue issue,” he said. “We have to start thinking about our citizens first.” Maltz also had some very pointed words for those criticizing or attempting to stand in the way of the federal government’s immigration crackdown. “Why don’t you thank law enforcement instead of being ‘Monday morning quarterbacks’ sitting at home and being critics?” he asked. “Why don’t you ask the politicians in the state of Colorado why they are not uniting, why they are fighting the force of good that’s going after evil?” ‘CLOSING TIME’: WHITE HOUSE, BORDER PATROL TROLL WITH DEPORTATION MEME VIDEO “Wake up, pay attention,” he went on. “Talk to the citizens that can’t go out of their house at night when gunshots are going off, talk to people that are being extorted, talk to people that are being kidnapped and raped, talk to people that are being impacted every day.” Despite the criticism, Maltz said the federal government is “connecting the dots” and taking a “whole of government” approach to finally crack down on TdA and other migrant criminals, regardless of Colorado’s laws. CLICK HERE FOR MORE IMMIGRATION COVERAGE “I’m proud to report that right now, the cartels, the MS-13, the violent gangs like Tren de Aragua, they’re going to be held accountable, and they’re already being held accountable,” he said. ‘SAFER WITHOUT HIM’: COLUMBIA STUDENT CLAIMS CLASSMATE ARRESTED BY ICE ‘HATES AMERICA’ “I’ve got a warning for the TdA members,” he added, “start running now.” “The team of the DEA, working with their partners from FBI, ATF, HSI, ICE ERO and our state and local counterparts, it’s a team that takes public safety and national security serious and they’ve already proven what they can do,” he said. “So they better go and find another state because they are not welcome here in Colorado.” CLICK HERE FOR MORE IMMIGRATION COVERAGE Colorado’s two Democratic senators, Michael Bennett and John Hickenlooper, did not respond to Fox News Digital’s requests for comment by the time of publication. MEXICAN IMMIGRATION ACTIVIST WHO HID IN COLORADO CHURCH FOR YEARS TO AVOID DEPORTATION ARRESTED BY ICE Eric Maruyama, a representative for Colorado Gov. Jared Polis, responded to Maltz’s statements by telling Fox News Digital that the state “works with the DEA all the time on criminal investigations and to apprehend violent offenders and fugitives whether they are here legally or illegally.” Maruyama instead placed the blame for the crisis on the federal government, saying, “The reality is that Congress and the federal government for years have failed to fix our broken immigration system, secure our border, and create pathways to citizenship for people.” “Gov. Polis is focused on improving public safety and has signed comprehensive laws to crack down on illegal gun crimes, get fentanyl off the streets, and recruit and retain more law enforcement,” he claimed. “When it comes to criminal investigations or prosecutions, Colorado works closely with all federal partners, in accordance with state and federal law, to fight crime and enhance public safety.”
‘No betrayal’: Ukraine breathes sigh of relief after Trump-Putin talks
Kyiv, Ukraine – Russia launched 145 drones and six missiles on Ukraine on Tuesday just minutes after US President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin finished their phone conversation. The attacks were launched from six locations in western Russia, and 45 drones targeted the Kyiv region alone, Ukrainian officials said. They said, however, that while the strikes damaged civilian infrastructure, they did not kill or wound anyone. The attacks were a way of rejecting Trump’s 30-day ceasefire proposal, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. “Today, Putin virtually threw away the proposal to fully cease the fire,” he said. Ukrainian citizens were indignant. “Putin shows that Trump is nothing but his lap dog,” said Larysa Kozhedub, a 52-year-old manicurist whose nephew Oleksiy was killed near the eastern city of Pokrovsk last October. “America lost the Cold War, and Ukraine is paying for it,” she told Al Jazeera. But analysts are more calm and cautious. No “betrayal” of Ukraine’s interests resulted from the Trump-Putin conversation that lasted more than two hours, said Volodymyr Fesenko, head of the Penta think tank in Kyiv. Advertisement “Everyone here was very afraid that Putin will yet again zombify Trump,” he told Al Jazeera, referring to Trump’s susceptibility to Putin’s views on the Russia-Ukraine conundrum. Instead, Fesenko noted, Trump did not bend to Russia’s calls to halt Washington’s military aid to Kyiv or force Ukraine to cease mobilisation in return for the full ceasefire. During a draconian mobilisation campaign, Ukraine replenished its decimated front-line forces – and for the first time in more than two years managed to wrestle back several towns in eastern Ukraine. However, Ukrainian troops were kicked out of Russia’s western Kursk region, where they had occupied up to 1,000 square kilometres (385 square miles) since August 2024. After a panicked withdrawal and losses, they currently maintain their hold on several villages and farms near the Russian-Ukrainian border. “However, it’s too early to relax. Russia will continue to present its ultimatums in the next stages of talks,” Fesenko said. United States President Donald Trump (left) and Russia’s President Vladimir Putin (right) discussed Ukraine and the ‘normalisation’ of US-Russian ties by phone [File: Drew Angerer and Gavriil Grigorov/AFP] Ironically, Trump and Putin agreed to implement parts of Kyiv’s peace plan, which was presented at the March 11 talks between US and Ukrainian officials in Saudi Arabia’s Jeddah, Fesenko said. Kyiv proposed to cease air and sea attacks, as well as strikes on energy infrastructure for 30 days. Russia’s pummelling of Ukraine’s power stations has caused blackouts and further hobbled the country’s economy. Advertisement In response, Kyiv doubled down on its drone and missile attacks on Russian oil refineries, fuel depots, military targets and civilian sites. Kyiv is ready to suspend its strikes on the energy infrastructure, Zelenskyy said. “Our side will support it,” Zelenskyy told a news conference held after the Trump-Putin talks. The Trump-Putin conversation may herald the pace of upcoming peace talks and a step-by-step ceasefire that would take weeks if not months to implement, Fesenko said. The next step – a suspension of air attacks – would be beneficial to Ukraine since Russia launches thousands of drones and dozens of ballistic and cruise missiles across the country every month. The effect, however, would be more psychological than practical. Millions of Ukrainians lie awake at night to the howling of air raid sirens and the boom of air defence systems shooting down the drones, while actual casualties and destruction remain minimal. ‘Global security’ talks amid Middle East tensions The Kremlin said that apart from Ukraine, Trump and Putin discussed the situation in the Middle East, the Red Sea region and “interaction in the matters of nuclear non-proliferation and global security”. This way, Putin offered Trump help with Iran’s nuclear programme and Yemen’s Houthis, Kyiv-based analyst Igar Tyshkevych said. Washington started bombing the Houthis on Saturday even though they stopped attacks on ships in the Red Sea after the ceasefire began in Gaza. “Yes, Putin wants to help Trump to kill two birds with one stone,” Tyshkevych told Al Jazeera. However, Putin may be bluffing because Tehran uses its clout among Houthis to up the ante in its own dealings with Washington and does not necessarily want Putin as a middleman, he said. Advertisement But if Russia could indeed help Trump with Iran and Yemen, Putin will ask for concessions in Ukraine, he said. Trump is in a political pickle as he needs a fast peace settlement ahead of his talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping, Putin’s main international backer. “It’s one thing when you come [to negotiations] with a ready algorithm that began to work, and another thing when you start working from scratch,” Tyshkevych said. ‘Ukraine’s biggest loss in the past year’ Meanwhile, Russia is “fragmenting” the Ukrainian problem by offering preconditions such as separate discussions of warfare in the Black Sea, Tyshkevych said. In the past two years, Kyiv succeeded in destroying Russian warships in annexed Crimea. The attacks forced Russia’s entire Black Sea fleet to relocate from its main base in Crimea’s Sevastopol to the Russian port of Novorossiysk. Ukraine’s agreement to stop strikes in the Black Sea will manifest Zelenskyy’s “political and military defeat”, predicted Nikolay Mitrokhin, a researcher with Germany’s University of Bremen. Kyiv already failed to use its dominance in the western part of the Black Sea to retake Ukrainian islands and spits west of annexed Crimea, and lost several islands in the Dnieper delta, he said. “This is Ukraine’s biggest loss in the past year” besides the retreat from around the eastern Ukrainian town of Pokrovsk, Mitrokhin told Al Jazeera. Meanwhile, Putin wants to use a pause in Trump’s push for the peace settlement to occupy more Ukrainian areas with the troops that pushed Ukrainians out of Kursk, said Mitrokhin. Advertisement As a result, there could be more “meat marches”, or devastating frontal assaults on Ukrainian positions in Donetsk, he said. But Ukraine’s attacks on border areas of Russia’s Belgorod region that lie
US court rejects Trump bid to dismiss Mahmoud Khalil deportation challenge
Judge Jesse Furman says effort to deport Palestinian rights advocate is ‘exceptional’ and requires ‘careful’ review. A federal court in the United States has dismissed an effort by President Donald Trump’s administration to dismiss Palestinian rights activist Mahmoud Khalil’s legal challenge against his detention and deportation. Khalil, a Columbia University graduate student and legal permanent resident, has been held by the government since March 8 in a push to deport him over his participation in campus protests for Gaza last year. On Wednesday, Judge Jesse Furman ruled that Khalil’s legal request for a judicial review against his detention, known as a habeas corpus petition, must proceed. The Trump administration had asked the court to reject the challenge. Furman noted that Khalil is arguing that the effort to deport him violates his rights to free speech and due process, which are guaranteed under the US Constitution. “These are serious allegations and arguments that, no doubt, warrant careful review by a court of law; the fundamental constitutional principle that all persons in the United States are entitled to due process of law demands no less,” Fruman wrote in his ruling. Advertisement He described Khalil’s ordeal as an “exceptional case”. However, the judge decided that his New York-based court cannot adjudicate the case, saying that the matter should be transferred to New Jersey, where Khalil was held when the challenge was filed. The government sought to move the case to Louisiana, a Republican-dominated state, where Khalil is currently detained in an immigration enforcement facility. Furman said that his previous order barring the government from deporting Khalil must remain in place while the case is under review. But he did not rule on the activist’s request to be released on bail, leaving the matter to the New Jersey court that will oversee the petition. He ordered the court clerk to transfer the petition “immediately”, but there is no exact date for when the New Jersey Court will rule or schedule hearings on the case. The Trump administration is pushing to deport Khalil under a rarely used provision of an immigration law that gives the secretary of state power to remove any non-citizen whose presence in the US is deemed to have “adverse foreign policy consequences”. The US government has not charged Khalil with a crime. Instead, US officials have accused him of “activities aligned to Hamas”. But Khalil’s supporters say he engaged in peaceful protests against Columbia University’s ties to the Israeli military as part of the wave of campus demonstrations that swept the country last year. Khalil’s detention has raised concerns about Trump’s willingness to scuttle free speech in his crackdown on Palestinian rights advocacy in the US. Advertisement The activist, whose wife is a US citizen and eight months pregnant, was arrested late at night by immigration enforcement agents and transferred to two different facilities without his family or lawyers being notified. Critics have likened his treatment to forced disappearances by authoritarian governments. “The Trump administration is seeking to send a message with the unlawful and deplorable disappearance of Mr Khalil,” Hannah Flamm, acting senior policy director at the International Refugee Assistance Project (IRAP), told Al Jazeera last week. “This is not the first occasion when the US government has weaponised immigration enforcement to separate families and to terrorise communities. But Mr Khalil’s arrest represents a significant departure and profound violation of American free speech rights.” Khalil released a statement from his confinement late on Tuesday, describing himself as a political prisoner. “My arrest was a direct consequence of exercising my right to free speech as I advocated for a free Palestine and an end to the genocide in Gaza, which resumed in full force Monday night,” he wrote. Adblock test (Why?)
How much money is actually lost to fraud, waste in the US?
Billionaire Elon Musk, the driving force behind United States President Donald Trump’s budget-cutting Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), has broached the sensitive issue of Social Security cost savings on the TV channel Fox Business. Musk told host Larry Kudlow, a former Trump economic adviser, that the Government Accountability Office estimated in 2024 that federal government fraud was “half a trillion dollars”. While referring to waste, Musk said: “Most of the federal spending is entitlements. So that’s like the big one to eliminate. That’s the sort of half-trillion, maybe $600, $700bn a year.” Using the word “eliminate” in the same breath as “entitlements” set off alarms among Trump’s and Musk’s Democratic critics. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said at the March 11 news briefing that Musk was referring to cutting waste, fraud and abuse in those programmes, and Trump “is going to protect Social Security”, Medicare and Medicaid. At a March 11 event promoting Tesla cars at the White House, a reporter asked Musk if he could guarantee there would be no interruption to Social Security benefits. Advertisement “We are going to be very careful with any benefits,” Musk said. “In fact, only by tackling waste or fraud can we actually preserve those programmes for the future.” “Fraud” and “waste” mean different things. Waste refers to careless use, and fraud includes criminal wrongdoing. Musk referred to a report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO), a nonpartisan auditing arm of Congress that examines federal spending. In 2024, the office estimated there are $233bn to $521bn in fraudulent payments across the government per year. The report went further than Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, which make up about half of mandatory government spending. It covers the entire government, including pandemic-related relief programmes that resulted in record fraud. Musk said cutting fraud and waste will help his efforts to slash $1 trillion from the federal budget. But his estimates for fraud are at the top end of the GAO’s estimate or exceed it. For Social Security, the inspector general in 2021 found about $300m in payments was made after the deaths of beneficiaries over about two decades – about one-third of which was recovered. Although federal officials have long recognised improper spending as a problem, it is not the main reason for the programme’s dire financial outlook. What does the government know about overall fraud? In April, the Government Accountability Office under President Joe Biden produced what it called a “first-of-its kind, government-wide estimate of federal dollars lost to fraud”. Advertisement The office’s estimate of $233bn to $521bn lost in fraud per year covered 2018-2022 data in reports from agency inspectors general and fraud reports submitted to the Office of Management and Budget. Musk cited the high end of the range when he said “half a trillion”. The White House didn’t respond to our question about the source of his $600bn to $700bn figure. The GAO’s top-line figures included not only official fraud findings from legal proceedings but also estimates from individual agencies’ findings of fraud. The agency also extrapolated figures it believed represented undetected fraud. The estimated losses represent about 3 percent to 7 percent of average federal outlays. The Office of Management and Budget, the agency that assists the president in meeting his budget goals, found a lower figure of federal government fraud, from $4.41bn to $7.31bn annually, based on amounts confirmed through a judicial or adjudication process. Experts on the federal budget said it’s important to pay attention to the full analysis in the government reports. Joshua Sewell, director of research and policy at Taxpayers for Common Sense, said taxpayers should view these numbers with a “massive grain of salt”. The report is filled with caveats and is likely not representative of other years because of the increase in pandemic spending. “It’s a fine report to try to put numbers to an amorphous issue, but you can’t take the high-end numbers as a definitive statement on the dollar amount of fraud that exists in federal spending,” he said. Advertisement It is possible that about 5 percent of the annual federal budget is lost to fraud and some programmes have improper payment rates in excess of 10 percent, said Bob Westbrooks, executive director of the Pandemic Response Accountability Committee, a government committee Congress created five years ago. But the phrase “improper payments” doesn’t necessarily mean fraud; it includes scenarios with insufficient documentation. “Whatever the number, it is huge in absolute terms,” Westbrooks said, referring to all fraud. Westbrooks said Musk was conflating fraud and waste and ignoring that COVID-19-era fraud was likely pushing up the government’s estimated range, as the report itself noted. The Government Accountability Office said the range is a “reflection of both the uncertainty associated with estimating fraud and the diversity in the risk environments that were present in fiscal years 2018 through 2022”. What do we know about Social Security fraud? At the March 11 White House briefing, Leavitt cited an inspector general report from the Social Security Administration that found more than $70bn of fraud in that programme alone. The 2024 report did not conclude there was more than $70bn in Social Security “fraud”. It said the programme sent almost $71.8bn in “improper payments” from 2015 to 2022, a period that includes Trump’s first term. That is less than 1 percent of overall payments in that timeframe. On Fox Business, Musk said “there’s a massive amount of fraud” with people submitting fake Social Security numbers to receive a range of government benefits, including Social Security, healthcare and unemployment assistance. Advertisement Most of the improper payouts revealed by the inspector general were overpayments with some underpayments. This happens, for example, when beneficiaries fail to report necessary information or the administration fails to update records, the 2024 inspector general report said. Neither represents criminal intent necessarily. The Social Security Administration has long struggled to curb improper payments. “Without better access to data, increased automation, systems modernisation, and policy or legislative changes, improper payments will continue to be an issue
UP Police unveils murder that may give you goosebumps! Wife, paramour kill Merchant Navy officer, chop his body into 15 pieces
Muskaan told the police that she mixed sleeping pills in Saurabh’s food on March 4. Once he was asleep, she and Sahil murdered him with a knife, chopped his body into 15-odd parts, stuffed the pieces in a drum and sealed it with wet cement.
Delhi to Noida Airport direct AC bus service to start soon, to operate from 3 locations; check details
These AC electric buses will not have any stops at any point and will reach the destination non-stop.
Amanda Edwards to run to succeed the late-U.S. Rep. Sylvester Turner
Edwards unsuccessfully ran for the seat twice last year. She faced off against U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee in the 2024 Democratic primary. Jackson Lee won the primary but died before the general election, opening the party’s nomination anew
RFK Jr targets companies making baby formula after shortages rocked Biden administration
In a push to protect infants, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) launched a new initiative Tuesday to ensure baby formula is safe, nutritious, and free from harmful contaminants. Titled “Operation Stork Speed,” news of the new initiative followed a meeting between Heath and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and several chief executives from baby formula manufacturers. The new, comprehensive review of baby formula in the U.S. follows a shortage in 2022 under former President Joe Biden, after a recall from a major manufacturer over bacterial contaminants and COVID-19 supply chain disruptions forced the military to fly in more formula from other countries. A Pro-Publica report last year also highlighted how, under the previous administration, the U.S. pushed more than half-a-dozen countries to loosen their baby formula regulations. MOST BABY FOODS MAY NOT MEET NUTRITIONAL GUIDELINES AND USE ‘MISLEADING CLAIMS,’ STUDY FINDS Operation Stork Speed will commence with several steps. One includes the initiation of a nutrient review, which will be the FDA’s first comprehensive update and review of infant formula nutrients since 1998. Another step includes ramping up testing for heavy metals and other contaminants in baby formula, while other steps revolve around addressing transparency and labeling concerns in the baby formula manufacturing industry. “The FDA is deeply committed to ensuring that moms and other caregivers of infants and young children and other individuals who rely on infant formula for their nutritional needs have confidence that these products are safe, consistently available, and contain the nutrients essential to promote health and well-being during critical stages of development and life,” said acting FDA Commissioner Sara Brenner. “Whether breastfed, bottle-fed or both, the rising generation must be nourished in a way that promotes health and longevity over the course of their lives.” FEDERAL DIETARY GUIDELINES WILL SOON CHANGE FOR AMERICANS, HHS AND USDA ANNOUNCE Research from Consumer Reports released this week tested 41 types of baby formula for a number of toxic chemicals and found that roughly half of the samples they tested contained potentially harmful levels of contaminants. Abbott Laboratories, which was responsible for the 2022 recall that contributed to a nationwide baby formula shortage, was among one of the companies whose products tested above average for heavy metals. However, the company took issue with the Consumer Report’s methodology, citing the fact that heavy metals exist in the environment and these substances “may be present in trace amounts in food products, including all brands of infant formula and even human breast milk.” In a statement following news of the initiative, Scott Stoffel, a spokesperson for Abbott Laboratories, said the company was looking forward to supporting the efforts of Operation Stork Speed. “We look forward to working with the Secretary, the FDA, and the scientific and medical communities to continue to make infant formulas even closer to breast milk and support the aims of Operation Stork Speed,” Stoffel said. “Each ingredient in our formulas is purposefully chosen for the type of baby we’re feeding and their unique dietary needs.”
House Dem gets earful from angry constituents: ‘Show some…backbone’
Rep. Glenn Ivey, D-Md., faced down angry constituents and shouting matches that threatened to derail his town hall near the nation’s capitol on Tuesday. Footage from the event shows one constituent from Prince George’s County yelling at the congressman to “fight” and “show some of the backbone and strategic brilliance that Mitch McConnell would have in the minority.” “We want you to show fight, and you are not fighting,” the man shouted, going on to say that federal employees feel abandoned by Democratic lawmakers in the wake of Republicans successfully passing their budget bill earlier in March. “Yeah I agree. I think your point about the vote on the [budget] is right,” Ivey responded before being cut off by another shouting constituent. EPA TERMINATES BIDEN ADMIN’S GREEN GRANTS WORTH $20B, ZELDIN SAYS The woman screamed for several seconds before Ivey attempted to interject: “He just asked me about this. I’m going to answer his question…You will get a turn.” “You’re too calm. You are too calm,” the woman screamed back. “Where is your fight, then? Where is your fight?” JAMES CARVILLE OFFERS LOVE ADVICE TO YOUNG PROGRESSIVES FOLLOWING ‘LOVE IS BLIND’ POLITICAL BLOW-UP Ivey repeats that he will answer the first man’s question, insisting that the woman “can stay here and yell as long as you want.” “No! No! Nooooooooooooooooo!” the woman can be heard screaming. The congressman then continues to speak over her and say that she must get in line to ask a question until she ultimately leaves the venue. The event was emblematic of the frustration that exists at all levels of the Democratic Party as Republicans control the White House, the Senate and the House of Representatives. Ivey himself lashed out at Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer earlier in the town hall. “I was deeply disappointed that Senator Schumer voted with the Republicans. You know, you’re on bad ground when you get a personal tweet from Donald Trump thanking you for your vote, right. We don’t want to be there. We don’t want to be there,” Ivey said. DEMOCRATS LASH OUT AT SCHUMER FOR ‘BETRAYAL’ OF SIDING WITH TRUMP “Hakeem [Jeffries] met the moment. Schumer did not. And so I respect Chuck Schumer. I think he’s had a great, long-standing career. He’s done a lot of great things, but I’m afraid that it may be time for the Senate Democrats to pick new leadership as we move forward,” the lawmaker added to applause.
Trump DOJ hammers judge’s ‘digressive micromanagement,’ seeks more time to answer 5 questions
The Justice Department accused a federal judge of “digressive micromanagement” Wednesday in relation to a case involving deportation flights that sent Venezuelan nationals to El Salvador over the weekend. U.S. District Judge James Boasberg ordered the Justice Department to submit answers to five questions after it insisted Tuesday that the flights did not violate a court order. Boasberg granted an emergency order Saturday to temporarily block the flights from taking place for 14 days while his court considered the legality of using the 1798 wartime-era Alien Enemies Act to immediately deport Venezuelan nationals and alleged members of the violent gang Tren de Aragua. “The Court has now spent more time trying to ferret out information about the Government’s flight schedules and relations with foreign countries than it did in investigating the facts before certifying the class action in this case,” read a filing Wednesday that was co-signed by Attorney General Pamela Bondi, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche and others. “That observation reflects how upside-down this case has become, as digressive micromanagement has outweighed consideration of the case’s legal issues.” “The distraction of the specific facts surrounding the movements of an airplane has derailed this case long enough and should end until the Circuit Court has had a chance to weigh in. The Government respects this Court and has complied with its request to present the Government’s position on the legality of the Court’s [Temporary Restraining Order] and the Government’s compliance with that TRO,” they wrote. Boasberg on Tuesday ordered the Justice Department to answer five questions, submitting declarations to him under seal by noon on Wednesday: “1) What time did the plane take off from U.S. soil and from where? 2) What time did it leave U.S. airspace? 3) What time did it land in which foreign country (including if it made more than one stop)? 4) What time were individuals subject solely to the Proclamation transferred out of U.S. custody? and 5) How many people were aboard solely on the basis of the Proclamation?” However, the Justice Department said in their filing today that “Defendants are currently evaluating whether to invoke the state secrets privilege as to portions of the information sought by this Court’s order.” “Whether and how to invoke that privilege involves both weighty considerations and specific procedures that are not amenable to the 21-hour turnaround period currently provided by this Court’s order,” it continued. It also said “disclosure of the information sought could implicate the affairs of United States allies and their cooperation with the United States Government in fighting terrorist organizations” and “such disclosure would unquestionably create serious repercussions for the Executive Branch’s ability to conduct foreign affairs.” “What began as a dispute between litigants over the President’s authority to protect the national security and manage the foreign relations of the United States pursuant to both a longstanding Congressional authorization and the President’s core constitutional authorities has devolved into a picayune dispute over the micromanagement of immaterial factfinding,” it declared. In granting the emergency order Saturday, Boasberg sided with the plaintiffs – Democracy Forward and the ACLU – who had argued that the deportations would likely pose imminent and “irreparable” harm to the migrants under the time proposed. Boasberg also ordered the Trump administration on Saturday to immediately halt any planned deportations and to notify their clients that “any plane containing these folks that is going to take off or is in the air needs to be returned to the United States,” he said. However, the decision apparently came too late to stop two planes filled with more than 200 migrants who were deported to El Salvador. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told Fox News in an interview that a plane carrying hundreds of migrants, including more than 130 persons removed under the Alien Enemies Act, had already “left U.S. airspace” by the time the order was handed down. Fox News’ Breanne Deppisch and David Spunt contributed to this report.