June 21, 2025
The Trump administration has transferred hundreds of suspected Venezuelan gang members to El Salvador even as a federal judge issued an order temporarily barring the deportations, officials said Sunday. Flights were in the air at the time of the ruling.
U.S. District Judge James E. Boasberg, appointed by President Barack Obama, issued an order Saturday temporarily blocking the deportations, but lawyers told him there were already two planes with immigrants in the air — one headed for El Salvador, the other for Honduras. Boasberg verbally ordered the planes be turned around, but they apparently were not and he did not include the directive in his written order.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, in a statement Sunday, responded to speculation about whether the administration was flouting court orders: “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 refers to the Tren de Aragua gang, which Trump targeted in his unusual proclamation that was released Saturday
In a court filing Sunday, the Department of Justice, which has appealed Boasberg's decision, said it would not use the Trump proclamation he blocked for further deportations if his decision is not overturned.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who negotiated an earlier deal with Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele to house immigrants, posted on the social media site 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.”
The immigrants were deported after Trump’s declaration of the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, which has been used only three times in U.S. history.
The law, invoked during the War of 1812 and World Wars I and II, requires a president to declare the United States is at war, giving him extraordinary powers to detain or remove foreigners who otherwise would have protections under immigration or criminal laws. It was last used to justify the detention of Japanese-American civilians during World War II.
Tren de Aragua originated in an infamously lawless prison in the central state of Aragua and accompanied an exodus of millions of Venezuelans.
The United States also sent two top members of the Salvadoran MS-13 gang to El Salvador who had been arrested in the United States.
The Trump administration said the president actually signed the proclamation contending Tren de Aragua was invading the United States on Friday night but didn't announce it until Saturday afternoon.
Boasberg's bar on deportations stands for up to 14 days, and the immigrants will remain in federal custody during that time. Boasberg has scheduled a hearing on Friday to hear additional arguments in the case.
