Courtesy of Kentucky Lantern
Kentucky Attorney General Russell Coleman says he supports the Trump administration’s efforts to deport Venezuelan migrants and has joined with his Republican counterparts to say so in court.
Families and attorneys of some who have been deported to a prison in El Salvador—including a professional soccer player and a political activist who protested the Maduro regime in Venezuela—say they are not gang members and that some people were incorrectly detained based on tattoos. They were transported without hearings.
Coleman, a Republican who has previously supported the president’s stances on other issues, joined a coalition of 26 Republican state attorneys general in filing a brief asking the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit to overturn a lower court ruling that blocks President Donald Trump from using wartime powers to deport alleged gang members.
Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares and South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson are leading the coalition in filing the brief. In recent days, the Trump administration has defended using extraordinary war powers to deport 137 Venezuelan migrants despite a judge blocking the action. Venezuela has also denied assertions that the deportees were gang members.
In a Tuesday statement, Coleman said voters across Kentucky and the U.S. “gave President Trump a strong mandate to secure our border and protect the nation from violent criminals” and the Trump administration’s recent actions “will help keep Kentucky families safe.” In the 2024 election, Trump won Kentucky’s eight electoral votes for a third time with more than 65% of the vote.
“Along with the Trump Administration and a majority of state AGs, we’re ready to take on the threat with every lawful tool we have,” Coleman said.
Trump vowed during his campaign to have the largest mass deportation operation in U.S. history under his administration. Last week, ICE announced it arrested 81 people in Kentucky on charges such as illegal reentry, illegal possession of firearms and illegal possession of controlled substances.
In their brief, the attorneys general argue each of their states are “directly impacted by criminal activity perpetuated by violent foreign gangs” and have “an interest in protecting its citizens from such criminal activity.”
Along with Kentucky, Virginia and South Carolina, state attorneys generals signing on to the brief represent Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Iowa, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah and West Virginia.
On Monday, Attorney General Pam Bondi invoked the “state secrets privilege” to block a federal judge from obtaining information about deportation flights carried out under a wartime law.
Also on Monday, a panel of three federal appellate judges seemed split while hearing the Trump administration’s challenge of the lower court’s restraining order on the use of the wartime law to deport, without due process, the Venezuelan nationals.
Judge Justin R. Walker, who was appointed to the U.S. District Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit by President Donald Trump, appeared to align with the Department of Justice’s arguments, while Judge Patricia A. Millett, whom Democratic President Barack Obama appointed, raised serious questions about due process.
Millett said the deportees were given no opportunity to challenge their deportations or present evidence that they had been wrongly detained. “Nazis got better treatment under the Alien Enemies Act,” Millett said, referring to German nationals who were able to have a hearing before a board to challenge their removal when the wartime law was invoked during World War II.
Kentucky Lantern is part of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization.