Art Arthur
Appearances
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | March 22nd, 2025: Trump’s Venezuelan Gang Deportations & U.S. Hits Back At Houthis
So Mahmoud Khalil is a graduate student or a person who's about to graduate from Columbia University. He was born in Syria, a Palestinian parent, and he is married to a United States citizen who's pregnant with his child. He has a green card. I believe he got his green card back in November.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | March 22nd, 2025: Trump’s Venezuelan Gang Deportations & U.S. Hits Back At Houthis
And he was arrested a few weeks back by ICE officers because the State Department has determined that his presence in the United States has potentially serious adverse foreign policy implications for the United States. There's a specific ground of removability, Section 237A4C.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | March 22nd, 2025: Trump’s Venezuelan Gang Deportations & U.S. Hits Back At Houthis
that permits the Secretary of State to make such a determination and that renders an individual against whom such determination has been made removable from the United States, even if you have a green card. And the basic idea is that, you know, this person simply being in the United States has some very serious foreign policy impact. And for that reason, the person has to go.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | March 22nd, 2025: Trump’s Venezuelan Gang Deportations & U.S. Hits Back At Houthis
Probably the best scenario that you and I could think about for this would be the Shah of Iran. You remember, after he was deposed, the Shah came to the United States for medical treatment. And his presence in this country, you know, eventually led to the seizure of the U.S. embassy in Tehran. So, and that's really why Congress wrote that law. And now it's being used against Mr. Khalil.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | March 22nd, 2025: Trump’s Venezuelan Gang Deportations & U.S. Hits Back At Houthis
He's sitting in custody in Louisiana right now. What do you think? The really critical part of this, Mike, and this is the part that nobody's talking about, is what that foreign policy interest is. Secretary of State Rubio has talked a lot about this guy and about how aliens in the United States don't have a right to live here permanently. And he's more or less correct about that.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | March 22nd, 2025: Trump’s Venezuelan Gang Deportations & U.S. Hits Back At Houthis
A lot of people are missing that crucial point. There are a couple of things. One could be our foreign policy relationship with Israel.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | March 22nd, 2025: Trump’s Venezuelan Gang Deportations & U.S. Hits Back At Houthis
Mr. Khalil has apparently been implicated in some way in protests that happened at Columbia University by a group called Columbia University Apartheid Divest, and CUAD, as they're called, has been accused of some criminal activity that they've threatened Jewish students and other students going to class in Columbia. So it's possible that the foreign policy implication could be
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | March 22nd, 2025: Trump’s Venezuelan Gang Deportations & U.S. Hits Back At Houthis
the treatment that foreign students at Columbia University are receiving. If you're a Jewish student from Canada or Germany or the UK and you feel threatened in going to class, you know, that's going to have foreign policy implications because the way we treat foreign nationals in the United States is more or less the way we expect other people to treat us.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | March 22nd, 2025: Trump’s Venezuelan Gang Deportations & U.S. Hits Back At Houthis
I think that Marco Rubio's ultimate letter, which hasn't been disclosed, is going to be very enlightening on these issues.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | March 22nd, 2025: Trump’s Venezuelan Gang Deportations & U.S. Hits Back At Houthis
And so I've actually taken a look at what purports to be the notice to appear in his case. And it both says that he was a student and that he is a lawful permanent resident. So he probably adjusted his status. That's perfectly legal. You can go from being a tourist to being a green card holder or a student. That part is legal.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | March 22nd, 2025: Trump’s Venezuelan Gang Deportations & U.S. Hits Back At Houthis
But to your point, and I have a feeling I know where you're going with this, the law is clear that the Secretary of State cannot make this determination based upon statements, beliefs, or associations or activities and associations in the United States that are lawful in the United States, which means that Marco Rubio seems to think that Mr. Khalil has done something that would be unlawful in this country.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | March 22nd, 2025: Trump’s Venezuelan Gang Deportations & U.S. Hits Back At Houthis
Now, and this is an important caveat that I have to add. Even if Khalil's activities were lawful and even if Rubio has made the determination that they were, if his presence implicates a compelling or compromises a compelling foreign policy issue, then he could still go ahead, Rubio could still go ahead and move to deport Khalil. So, that letter is going to be absolutely crucial.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | March 22nd, 2025: Trump’s Venezuelan Gang Deportations & U.S. Hits Back At Houthis
So that letter has to be presented to the immigration judge at the time that Mr. Khalil is presented in immigration court so that the judge can make a determination that it was properly issued. And really, the only part of this that the judge can rule on is whether or not it was properly issued. The judge can't second guess the foreign policy interest that was asserted.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | March 22nd, 2025: Trump’s Venezuelan Gang Deportations & U.S. Hits Back At Houthis
But I think both sides in this case, Mike, and I think this is really the interesting part, both sides are looking forward to that hearing. And, you know, wait to see whether Khalil allows that hearing to be public or whether, you know, he asked for the courtroom to be closed. Is that up to Khalil and his attorneys to make that decision?
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | March 22nd, 2025: Trump’s Venezuelan Gang Deportations & U.S. Hits Back At Houthis
He can make that request and the judge generally will grant those requests. But I think that Mr. Khalil probably wants to use that hearing as a platform by which to say, I'm just a good guy. I'm simply here in the United States. I'm going to be the father of a child. You know, and, you know, to sort of, you know, present his political views.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | March 22nd, 2025: Trump’s Venezuelan Gang Deportations & U.S. Hits Back At Houthis
I think that the administration is interested in, you know, using that hearing as a platform at which you can discuss everything that happened in Columbia University. If you do all the reading on the on this case and what happened in Columbia, I'm sure you have. I know I have. you know, it's all over the map. On the one hand, you know, they're simply peacefully protesting.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | March 22nd, 2025: Trump’s Venezuelan Gang Deportations & U.S. Hits Back At Houthis
On the other hand, there are students that are afraid to go to class and custodians that were, you know, threatened with assault and locked in rooms. So, it'll be interesting to hear what comes out.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | March 22nd, 2025: Trump’s Venezuelan Gang Deportations & U.S. Hits Back At Houthis
I think that the constitutionality of this ground removal is headed to the Supreme Court. It was only used once in the past in a case that was very tangentially involved and called matter of Ruiz-Masiu. It involved the former deputy attorney general of Mexico. Now, he died before that case could make its way through the federal courts.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | March 22nd, 2025: Trump’s Venezuelan Gang Deportations & U.S. Hits Back At Houthis
I think the constitutionality of this one is definitely headed to the Supreme Court. But Mike, when it comes to foreign policy issues, the Supreme Court is very deferential to the executive branch.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | March 22nd, 2025: Trump’s Venezuelan Gang Deportations & U.S. Hits Back At Houthis
We don't know. It's to be said, it hasn't been publicly stated when that's going to be scheduled. But given the fact that he's in detention, ICE has an interest in having that case as quickly as possible because they have to pay about 150 bucks per day for every day that he sits in detention. And he doesn't want to sit in detention any longer than he has to.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | March 22nd, 2025: Trump’s Venezuelan Gang Deportations & U.S. Hits Back At Houthis
Mr. Khalil probably also wants this thing to happen as quickly as possible.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | March 22nd, 2025: Trump’s Venezuelan Gang Deportations & U.S. Hits Back At Houthis
I look forward to it. I mean, it's going to be absolutely fascinating. And I hope that, you know, not just you and I, but many in the press, you know, seriously and objectively look at these issues because I think objectivity has been one of those things that's been lost in both of these cases.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | March 22nd, 2025: Trump’s Venezuelan Gang Deportations & U.S. Hits Back At Houthis
So generally, when aliens are deported from the United States, they're deported under the Immigration and Nationality Act, the INA, or Title VIII, as the Biden administration would refer to it. And that's the baseline of laws that we use to determine who can come in, who should be sent away, and who should be allowed to stay.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | March 22nd, 2025: Trump’s Venezuelan Gang Deportations & U.S. Hits Back At Houthis
But with respect to the Tren de Aragwa members who were sent by the Trump administration to El Salvador, those individuals were actually expelled under a different authority, the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, a law that was passed during a period of time when France was in the throes of a revolution and the United States was afraid that it was going to get dragged into that war.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | March 22nd, 2025: Trump’s Venezuelan Gang Deportations & U.S. Hits Back At Houthis
And it allows the president to detain and deport individuals who are nationals of countries with which we're at war, or alternatively, individuals who have invaded the United States. And the president's contention is no.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | March 22nd, 2025: Trump’s Venezuelan Gang Deportations & U.S. Hits Back At Houthis
that Tren de Aragua is such a well-organized criminal cartel, transnational criminal organization, that they function sort of as a state, and also that they have ties to the regime of Venezuelan strongman Nicolas Maduro.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | March 22nd, 2025: Trump’s Venezuelan Gang Deportations & U.S. Hits Back At Houthis
And thus, the president concludes that the authorities in the Alien Enemies Act are sufficient to allow him to take those Tren de Aragua members and send them outside the United States. What do you think? Is that a correct interpretation? I think it's definitely an authority that the president has. I think that it's appropriate for him to make a determination.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | March 22nd, 2025: Trump’s Venezuelan Gang Deportations & U.S. Hits Back At Houthis
He knows a whole lot more about how Trendy Aragua operates and what relationship they have with the socialist government in Venezuela than most of the American people do. And, Mike, most of that information is, you know, highly sensitive information, law enforcement sensitive stuff.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | March 22nd, 2025: Trump’s Venezuelan Gang Deportations & U.S. Hits Back At Houthis
national security related information and in fact national security has been one of those things that's come up in the court case against this so you know it's
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | March 22nd, 2025: Trump’s Venezuelan Gang Deportations & U.S. Hits Back At Houthis
I'm not going to say it's a stretch, but it's definitely a novel interpretation of the Alien Enemies Act, which I think was last used during World War II when certain German, Italian, and primarily Japanese Americans were sent to internment camps. Now, again, none of these people are being detained in the United States. They're being sent out of the United States.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | March 22nd, 2025: Trump’s Venezuelan Gang Deportations & U.S. Hits Back At Houthis
Yeah, the judge in question is Judge Jim Boasberg, who is the chief judge of the district court for the District of Columbia. And he is considering a lawsuit, a challenge to the president's use of the Alien Enemies Act. to deport individuals from the United States.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | March 22nd, 2025: Trump’s Venezuelan Gang Deportations & U.S. Hits Back At Houthis
And generally, when the judiciary gets involved in any situation like this, the first thing that they do is tell everybody to just stop, hold on, so that the court has the opportunity to determine what's going on. He issued a temporary restraining order, which is, you know, that sort of just stop for a moment so I can figure it out.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | March 22nd, 2025: Trump’s Venezuelan Gang Deportations & U.S. Hits Back At Houthis
As it relates to the foreign policy of the United States and Judge Boasberg's order, it gets into a question that the Trump administration had to deal with the first time around, and that is nationwide or universal injunctions. Generally, when you go into a court of law, you're arguing your case on behalf of yourself. Apparently, none of the people who were actually parties to that suit
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | March 22nd, 2025: Trump’s Venezuelan Gang Deportations & U.S. Hits Back At Houthis
were removed from the United States. The individuals who were removed from the United States were a larger class of individuals who weren't actually named parties. So, you know, the pushback from the Trump administration, in part, has to do with those universal jurisdictions, particularly given the fact that apparently these planes were outside of U.S.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | March 22nd, 2025: Trump’s Venezuelan Gang Deportations & U.S. Hits Back At Houthis
airspace and therefore outside of the United States. But whenever the president attempts to use any of these novel authorities, he's going to get pushback. The question is how quickly the courts can move. The first time around, courts didn't move very quickly. And so a lot of Trump administration policies were simply sidelined indefinitely.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | March 22nd, 2025: Trump’s Venezuelan Gang Deportations & U.S. Hits Back At Houthis
This time around, the administration's interested in having everything move a lot more quickly, having the courts issue decisions or alternatively not act at all and just let things proceed while the dust settles. So we're going to see how that ends up. All of this is going to the Supreme Court.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | March 22nd, 2025: Trump’s Venezuelan Gang Deportations & U.S. Hits Back At Houthis
Yeah, that's certainly the position that the Trump administration is making. You know, that, you know, courts don't get to decide foreign policy, courts don't get to decide defense policy. So when it comes to certain, you know, critical issues, You know, plenary powers that the president has, the power of the judiciary is extremely limited.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | March 22nd, 2025: Trump’s Venezuelan Gang Deportations & U.S. Hits Back At Houthis
In fact, even the Supreme Court has found that in the past in some very high profile cases. So, yeah, I mean, you know, the idea that a federal judge has the ability to order the United States government to return a person who's not a United States citizen from a prison that's not run by the United States. definitely wades into some novel legal issues.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | March 22nd, 2025: Trump’s Venezuelan Gang Deportations & U.S. Hits Back At Houthis
Again, that's why I said the Supreme Court's ultimately going to have to decide this because short term, no solution is going to make everybody happy. And the Supreme Court, not because they're the best, but because they're the last.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | March 22nd, 2025: Trump’s Venezuelan Gang Deportations & U.S. Hits Back At Houthis
Yeah. And, you know, that's an interesting thing, Mike. One of the things that Donald Trump has done during his second go round is that he's identified a lot of what we call in politics 80-20 issues where about 80% of the American people feel one way and a minority of people feel the other.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | March 22nd, 2025: Trump’s Venezuelan Gang Deportations & U.S. Hits Back At Houthis
As it relates to the rights that gang members or cartel members, it's important to note the TDA isn't just a gang. They're a well-organized group that started in a prison in Venezuela and since has become a criminal enterprise of the highest order.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | March 22nd, 2025: Trump’s Venezuelan Gang Deportations & U.S. Hits Back At Houthis
There aren't many Americans who are going to be concerned about the rights those individuals have, and even fewer Americans who want those individuals to remain in the United States. So I think that politically, the president is on great grounds. Picking a fight with the chief justice of the Supreme Court may not win him many friends.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | March 22nd, 2025: Trump’s Venezuelan Gang Deportations & U.S. Hits Back At Houthis
But I think that the American people want somebody who's going to do something to respond to the crime, especially the ailing crime that we've seen over the last four years. And that's definitely the marching orders the president got from the election. And he's followed. Okay.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | March 22nd, 2025: Trump’s Venezuelan Gang Deportations & U.S. Hits Back At Houthis
It's the only one that I'm aware of. I anticipate that there are probably more TDA members and perhaps some other cartel members. It's important to note that the president tasked Secretary of State Marco Rubio, DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, and Pam Bondi, the Attorney General, with identifying groups that should be designated as foreign terrorist organizations, and that includes cartels.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | March 22nd, 2025: Trump’s Venezuelan Gang Deportations & U.S. Hits Back At Houthis
You know, the Mexican cartels, we think about CJNG, the Jalisco New Generation cartel, Sinaloa, Gulf, some other smaller cartels. Those have now been designated, and the president could potentially use that same authority because his conclusion is those cartels have also invaded the United States. So stay tuned. There might be more flights taking off soon.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | March 22nd, 2025: Trump’s Venezuelan Gang Deportations & U.S. Hits Back At Houthis
That's one of the hooks. The other hook is this whole idea of invasion, that these groups have you know, that they are, you know, de facto political organizations and that they have invaded the United States. So that's the hook that the president's using. Again, it's a novel hook. I can't say that it's completely fallacious hook or that it has no, you know, legal standing.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | March 22nd, 2025: Trump’s Venezuelan Gang Deportations & U.S. Hits Back At Houthis
You know, this is definitely a power that, you know, At the time that the Alien Enemies Act was passed, we were concerned about pirates. We were concerned about smuggling. There were cases, you know, from Alexandria, Virginia involving smugglers.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | March 22nd, 2025: Trump’s Venezuelan Gang Deportations & U.S. Hits Back At Houthis
So, you know, this is, you know, definitely one of those things that your textualist judiciary is going to be very interested in exploring and determining whether this is an appropriate use of the power.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | March 22nd, 2025: Trump’s Venezuelan Gang Deportations & U.S. Hits Back At Houthis
Yeah. And, you know, that goes to one of their key talking points or one of their, you know, core beliefs. And that is that Donald Trump has authoritarian instincts, that he is, you know, a totalitarian and that if we don't fight for the rights of the least deserving individuals in this country, that eventually the rights of ordinary citizens could be impinged or impugned.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | March 22nd, 2025: Trump’s Venezuelan Gang Deportations & U.S. Hits Back At Houthis
But plainly, these are individuals who are foreign nationals. They have very limited rights in the United States. especially once they're outside the United States. And I think that that's overblown. But, you know, this whole concept that, you know, Trump has these authoritarian instincts, that he's different from any president in history. I served under six different presidents.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | March 22nd, 2025: Trump’s Venezuelan Gang Deportations & U.S. Hits Back At Houthis
And, you know, I can assure you that when it came to immigration, Joe Biden was the outlier, not Donald Trump. So, yeah, I mean, and Trump also inherited a very significant situation because of the Biden administration's immigration policies, where he does have to deal with a lot of immigrant criminals in this country. The immigration court system is slow.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | March 22nd, 2025: Trump’s Venezuelan Gang Deportations & U.S. Hits Back At Houthis
The Alien Enemies Act is a lot quicker if courts allow him to use it.