Trump Judge Bove Pushes for Judicial Deference on Deportations

Emil Bove, in one of his first opinions as a federal appeals court judge, said the judiciary should show deference to the executive branch in a case challenging a deportation order.

Bove, who recently served as a top Justice Department official in President Donald Trump’s administration, wrote the concurring opinion over a petition for review of a removal order. He was part of a three-judge motions panel, alongside Judge Cheryl Ann Krause and Senior Judge Richard Lowell Nygaard, that transferred the case to the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and denied an emergency motion to pause the removal order while the case plays out.

Bove said he had also dissented from an administrative stay that the panel issued earlier in the case. The emergency motion for a stay “should not have interfered with DHS operations for an instant,” he said, referring the Department of Homeland Security.

The petitioner overstayed his authorized entry in the US, waived the right to challenge his removal, and filed the petition in the wrong court, Bove said. The administrative stay delayed the deportation for more than six days, he added.

The courts are supposed to respect the functions of other branches and be deferential to executive actions, Bove said.

“While there is no question in my mind that we all approached that task in good faith here, I believe that the administrative stay was inconsistent with these principles. The subsequent denial of the broader stay motion is an appropriate change in course,” Bove said.

Bove said an administrative stay could create a significant burden for the executive branch, as it may have to “reschedule removal operations that were negotiated using exclusive foreign affairs authority, pay for unused space on removal flights, and use bedspace at detention facilities that could be put to other purposes that are exclusively committed to the discretion of the President.”

Bove said he believes administrative stays “should be quite rare and extremely brief.” And he said the appeals court was correct to eventually deny a motion to stay the petitioner’s removal while the case is heard.

“Petitioner argues that the failure to halt his removal ‘may’ result in irreparable harm. The argument does not warrant interfering with the operations of the Executive Branch,” Bove added.

As a senior Justice Department official, Bove was involved in overseeing matters tied to immigration enforcement. Bloomberg Law reported that multiple whistleblowers accused him of suggesting that government attorneys ignore court orders over the deportations of alleged Venezuelan gang members, claims that Bove denied.

Bove on Wednesday heard his first case as a Third Circuit judge, sitting with the full court in a challenge to a New Jersey assault rifle ban.

The case is Thomas Batista Ramos v. Attorney General United States of America, 3d Cir., No. 25-02946, order 10/17/25.