Sorry, Elon: Even deporting illegal gangbangers must heed the rule of law

Elon Musk is way out of his lane in cheering a bid to impeach federal Judge James Boasberg, who’s put a temporary hold on deportation flights of illegal-migrant gangbangers.

We like the idea of the flights: The brutes of Tren de Aragua and MS-13 have had it too easy for far too long, and current efforts to get tough are a necessary correction to Biden-era denial.

President Donald Trump’s executive orders declaring multiple gangs to be terrorist outfits are rooted in the gangs’ tactics and goals: They’re utterly vicious in their attempts to take turf inside our country, from Long Island to Colorado and beyond.

Simply deporting them hasn’t proved enough — multiple members have slipped back in multiple times, and while Trump has stopped the mass illegal border-jumping of the Biden years, the gangs have the resources and sophistication to keep getting their people through.

And, once here, they can not only hide among the 10 million illegal migrants admitted these last four years; they’re shielded by the left’s “sanctuary” laws and immigration-advocacy networks.

But the rule of law must hold: As legal authority for its actions, Team Trump is citing the 18th-century Alien Enemies Act, a law written to cover wartime situations that in the past has only been invoked during wars declared by Congress.

The “war” here is simply Trump’s presidential declaration that TdA is invading the country; challenging that in court is perfectly kosher, as is the judge ordering a holdoff on new flights until he can hear arguments in the case.

Note that the administration did not defy Boasberg by letting the first two flights land in Honduras and El Salvador: While the judge made comments in court about calling the planes back, his final written order left that out.

And however Boasberg ultimately rules, the case seems destined to go all the way to the Supreme Court. Can the feds simply declare anyone a TdA member before putting him on a plane off to an El Salvadoran prison?

Which makes it just plain silly for Musk to tweet “necessary” of a Texas rep’s plan to file to impeach the judge: It’s nothing of the kind, and cheering it only makes Musk look reckless — a reputation he doesn’t need when many DOGE actions also face court challenge.

Look: The Biden crew took years to get the nation fully into this mess (and built on Obama-era and earlier mistakes, too); the Trump team can’t possibly fix everything overnight.

The country needs the courts to sort out a host of legal questions about everything from what advocates insist are illegal migrants’ rights to local obligations to cooperate with federal law enforcement.

Trump stopped the bleeding at the border in his first weeks in office; undoing all the Biden-era damage will take a lot longer.

And doing it with full regard for the rule of law truly is necessary.