Trump Administration Deports Hundreds Despite Federal Judge’s Order

Trump Administration Deports Hundreds Despite Federal Judge’s Order

(TJV) The Trump administration has deported hundreds of Venezuelan migrants to El Salvador and Honduras, despite a federal judge’s ruling temporarily blocking their removal under an 18th-century wartime law, Reuters reported Sunday.

According to U.S. officials, flights carrying the migrants were already airborne when the order was issued.

U.S. District Judge James E. Boasberg granted an injunction Saturday evening to halt the deportations, but attorneys told the court that two planes carrying the migrants had already departed. One was bound for El Salvador, the other for Honduras. Although Boasberg verbally ordered the flights to be turned around, Reuters noted that the directive was not included in his official written order, and the planes continued to their destinations.

Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele, a staunch Trump ally, appeared to mock the ruling on social media. “Oopsie … Too late,” Bukele wrote on X above an article about Boasberg’s ruling. Bukele previously agreed to house around 300 migrants in El Salvador’s prison system for a reported $6 million. White House communications director Steven Cheung amplified Bukele’s post by resharing it.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who helped broker the agreement with El Salvador, also defended the deportations, stating, “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.” Rubio emphasized that the individuals removed were dangerous criminals. “Hundreds of violent criminals were sent out of our country,” he said in a statement.

The deportations were conducted under Trump’s invocation of the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, a law historically used during the War of 1812 and World Wars I and II to remove foreign nationals deemed threats to the United States. Reuters reported that this marked the first time the law had been used outside of a formally declared war.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), which filed the lawsuit that led to the temporary halt, questioned whether the administration had defied the court’s order by proceeding with deportations. “This morning, we asked the government to assure the Court that its order was not violated and are waiting to hear back,” ACLU attorney Lee Gelernt said in a statement Sunday.

Meanwhile, Venezuela’s government condemned Trump’s invocation of the law, calling it reminiscent of “the darkest episodes in human history, from slavery to the horror of the Nazi concentration camps,” according to Reuters.

Tren de Aragua, the gang at the center of the controversy, originated in Venezuela’s notoriously lawless Aragua prison. The group spread its influence amid Venezuela’s economic collapse, which drove millions to flee the country. Trump has repeatedly cited the gang to highlight violent crime concerns related to illegal immigration.

Despite administration claims, Reuters claimed that U.S. officials have not provided specific evidence that those deported were confirmed members of Tren de Aragua or had committed crimes in the United States. However, among those sent to El Salvador were two high-ranking members of the MS-13 gang who had been arrested in the U.S.

Video released by El Salvador’s government Sunday showed deported individuals arriving at an airport, shackled at the wrists and ankles, and being escorted by riot police. Officers forced the men to kneel while their heads were shaved before they were placed in the CECOT prison—a maximum-security facility central to Bukele’s crackdown on crime.

Reuters reported that the Trump administration had signed the executive order designating Tren de Aragua as an “invading force” Friday night, though the proclamation was not publicly announced until Saturday,

Immigration attorneys claim  that Venezuelans who would not normally qualify for deportation under immigration laws were being transferred to Texas for removal flights as early as Friday night, triggering legal efforts to halt the removals.

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

The lawsuit that led to the court injunction was filed on behalf of five Venezuelans detained in Texas, who feared they would be falsely labeled gang members. Judge Boasberg emphasized that his ruling applied to all individuals in federal custody who could be targeted under Trump’s declaration. He noted that the Alien Enemies Act has never before been applied in a scenario without a formal war declared by Congress and suggested Trump’s use of the law could be legally questionable.

The temporary block on deportations is set to last up to 14 days, with a hearing scheduled for Friday to determine whether the injunction will be extended. In his ruling, Boasberg stressed that individuals should have an opportunity to present their cases before being permanently expelled.

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