Career State Dept official says judge’s deportation pause endangers U.S. foreign policy

A career State Department official warned the federal judge who paused the Trump administration’s deportations of alleged Venezuelan gang members that the order could harm U.S. foreign policy. 

In a court filing Monday, long-time State Department official and U.S. diplomat Michael Kozak delivered a declaration to Judge James Boasberg who is overseeing a case brought by Democracy Forward and the American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of several Venezuelan immigrants fearing deportation. 

"The foreign policy of the United States would suffer harm if the removal of individuals associated with TdA were prevented, taking into account the significant time and energy expended over several weeks by high-level U.S. government officials,” and warned the delay could allow “foreign interlocutors” to “change their minds” about accepting individuals associated with the deadly Venezuelan gang, Tren de Aragua, wrote Kozak. 

You can read the filing below: 

He also warned that Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro or the government of El Salvador could seek to “leverage this as an ongoing issue” in discussions with the United States and interrupt efforts to solve other foreign policy matters in the bilateral relationships. 

Judge Boasberg ordered that all deportation flights related to the class of Venezuelan illegal aliens at issue in the case be halted after President Trump invoked the 18th-century wartime Alien Enemies Act to speed up deporting Venezuelans linked to Tren de Aragua.