Trump Administration Moves Forward with Deportations Despite Judicial Block

 

The US deported more than 250 mainly Venezuelan alleged gang members to El Salvador despite a US judge’s ruling to halt the flights 

Trump Administration Moves Forward with Deportations Despite Judicial Block

The Trump Administration has proceeded with the deportation of hundreds of immigrants to El Salvador, even as a federal judge issued a temporary order halting such removals. Officials confirmed Sunday that flights were already airborne at the time of the ruling, which invoked an 18th-century wartime statute aimed at Venezuelan gang affiliates.

U.S. District Judge James E. Boasberg attempted to intervene on Saturday, issuing a temporary block on the deportations. However, legal representatives informed him that two flights—one bound for El Salvador and another for Honduras—were already en route. While Boasberg verbally directed that the planes be recalled, this instruction was not formalized in his written ruling, and the aircraft continued to their destinations.

White House Defends Deportations

Amid speculation that the administration defied judicial orders, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt issued a statement on Sunday: “The Administration did not ‘refuse to comply’ with a court order. The order, which had no lawful basis, was issued after terrorist TdA aliens had already been removed from U.S. territory.”

The acronym TdA refers to the Tren de Aragua gang, which Trump specifically targeted in an unusual executive proclamation issued on Saturday.

In a separate court filing on Sunday, the Department of Justice, which has since appealed Boasberg’s ruling, stated that it would refrain from using Trump’s contested proclamation for additional deportations unless the decision is overturned.

When questioned about whether his administration had defied a court order, Trump, speaking aboard Air Force One on Sunday evening, declined to comment directly.

“I don’t know. You have to speak to the lawyers about that,” he stated but defended the deportations, adding, “I can tell you this. These were bad people.”

When asked about invoking wartime presidential powers, he remarked, “This is a time of war,” arguing that the influx of criminal migrants constituted “an invasion.”

Reactions from Political Allies and Legal Experts

Trump’s allies appeared pleased with the developments.

“Oopsie…Too late,” Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele posted on X in response to an article about Boasberg’s ruling. Bukele, who agreed to house approximately 300 migrants for one year at a cost of $6 million, saw his post reshared by White House Communications Director Steven Cheung.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio, instrumental in negotiating an earlier agreement with Bukele to detain immigrants, posted on X: “We sent over 250 alien enemy members of Tren de Aragua which El Salvador has agreed to hold in their very good jails at a fair price that will also save our taxpayer dollars.”

Legal analysts weighed in on the situation as well. Steve Vladeck, a professor at Georgetown University Law Center, noted that Boasberg’s verbal directive to halt the flights was not legally binding but suggested the administration had still disregarded the “spirit” of the ruling.

“This just incentivizes future courts to be hyper specific in their orders and not give the government any wiggle room,” Vladeck explained.

The Legal Basis for Deportations

The deportations were executed under Trump’s invocation of the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, a statute historically employed only three times in U.S. history.

Previously utilized during the War of 1812 and the two World Wars, the law grants the president sweeping authority to detain or expel foreign nationals in times of war, bypassing standard immigration and criminal protections. Its last significant application was during World War II, when it justified the internment of Japanese-American civilians.

On Sunday, Venezuela’s government issued a statement condemning the use of this law, likening it to “the darkest episodes in human history, from slavery to the horror of the Nazi concentration camps.”

Tren de Aragua, originally formed in an unregulated Venezuelan prison, expanded its reach as millions of Venezuelans fled their country’s economic collapse. Trump leveraged the gang’s notoriety during his campaign to push a narrative that U.S. communities were being “taken over” by criminals, despite evidence suggesting only a small percentage of Venezuelan migrants were involved in illegal activities.

Deportations Without Due Process?

The Trump Administration has not publicly identified the deported individuals, nor has it provided evidence confirming their affiliation with Tren de Aragua or any criminal activity within the United States. Additionally, two high-ranking members of the Salvadoran MS-13 gang—previously apprehended in the U.S.—were also sent to El Salvador.

El Salvador’s government released footage on Sunday showing deportees arriving at an airport, where they were met by heavily armed riot police. Shackled at the wrists and ankles, the detainees struggled to move as officers forced them to walk in a bent-over posture.

Further footage depicted their transport to prison in a heavily guarded convoy of buses, escorted by police, military vehicles, and at least one helicopter. Upon arrival at the prison, the men were ordered to kneel as their heads were shaved before changing into CECOT’s standard-issue uniform—knee-length shorts, T-shirt, socks, and rubber clogs—before being assigned to their cells.

The migrants were confined to CECOT, the notorious mega-prison that serves as the focal point of Bukele’s aggressive security policies, which have curtailed certain civil liberties in a bid to reduce crime.

Behind the Legal Battle

The Trump Administration maintained that the president had signed the proclamation designating Tren de Aragua as an invading force on Friday night, though the announcement was made public only on Saturday afternoon. Immigration attorneys reported that by late Friday, Venezuelans previously shielded from deportation under immigration law were being relocated to Texas for imminent deportation flights, prompting urgent legal action.

“Basically any Venezuelan citizen in the U.S. may be removed on pretext of belonging to Tren de Aragua, with no chance at defense,” Adam Isacson of the Washington Office for Latin America, a human rights organization, warned on X.

The lawsuit that ultimately led to the deportation freeze was filed on behalf of five Venezuelan detainees in Texas who feared wrongful accusations of gang affiliation. Lawyers argued that, once the act was invoked, Trump could unilaterally declare any individual a Tren de Aragua member and order their removal without due process.

On Saturday morning, Boasberg initially halted the deportations for these five individuals. However, after an afternoon hearing, he expanded the ruling to encompass all individuals in federal custody who might be affected by the law. He emphasized that the Alien Enemies Act had never before been applied outside of a congressionally declared war and suggested that plaintiffs might successfully challenge Trump’s legal authority in invoking it.

Under the ruling, the temporary bar on deportations will remain in place for up to 14 days while the migrants remain in federal custody. A hearing has been scheduled for Friday to further deliberate on the case.

Boasberg stressed the urgency of his decision, emphasizing the potential constitutional violations at stake.

“Once they’re out of the country,” Boasberg stated, “there’s little I could do.”