Trump flips script on reporter questioning administration's authority to deport illegals

President Donald Trump on Friday pushed back against a reporter's question in the Oval Office by asking whether former President Joe Biden had the legal standing to allow a high number of migrants into the United States during the previous administration.

The Trump administration continues in its efforts toward mass deportations, including with recent Immigration and Customs and Enforcement raids, and migrant crossings plummeted in February to their lowest tracked level in decades.

"Do you think you have the authority, the power to round up people, deport them and then you're under no obligation to a court to show the evidence against them?" a reporter asked the president.

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"That's what the law says, and that's what our country needs because … unfortunately, they allowed millions of people to come into our country. Totally unvetted, totally unchecked," Trump said, referring to the Biden administration.

"So you ought to ask, 'Did he have the authority to allow millions of people?' Did Biden have the authority to do something that's unthinkable, have open borders where millions of people poured into our country, totally unvetted and totally unchecked, just as you would say. And many of those people were criminals," the president added. 

"Many of them were from jails and prisons and mental institutions and gang members and drug dealers and very dangerous people. Many were murderers. We have 11,088 that we know of murderers. They murdered of that number. At least half killed more than one person.

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"So, when you asked me if we have the authority, did Biden have the authority to allow millions of people to come into our country? Many of these people are hardened criminals at the top of the line who have caused tremendous damage," the president added.

The administration is facing legal action over using the Alien Enemies Act against suspected members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua, which Trump designated a foreign terrorist organization. The American Civil Liberties Union argues it is an "unlawful and unprecedented invocation of the act," according to its website.

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The action is leading to a tense discussion over the relationship between federal judges and the administration after U.S. District Court Judge for the District of Columbia James Boasberg temporarily blocked the use of the act, but the court battle continues Friday.

"What the ACLU is seeking in this case is unprecedented — that a single unelected judge take upon himself the authority to micromanage the national defense of our nation. This would be a complete corruption of the principle of separation of powers, which is a bedrock feature of our Republic enshrined in the Constitution," America First Legal Senior Counsel James Rogers said in a statement Friday, according to a news release on AFL's brief in the case. 

During the Biden administration, there were millions of migrant encounters along the border. Since Trump took office, the Department of Homeland Security swapped out the CBP One app, which people crossing could use to attempt to get asylum in the United States. The CBP Home app is meant for self-deportation.