Despite a federal judge issuing a temporary injunction to halt deportations under an 18th-century wartime proclamation targeting members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua, the Trump administration transferred hundreds of migrants to El Salvador. Officials stated on Sunday that the flights were already airborne when the ruling was issued, indicating a potential disregard for the court's decision.
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03-17, 2025U.S. District Judge James E. Boasberg issued the order to prevent the deportations, but lawyers informed him that two planes carrying migrants were already in the air—one headed to El Salvador and the other to Honduras. Boasberg verbally ordered the planes to return, but this was apparently not enforced, nor did he include that instruction in his written order, raising questions about the authority and implementation of his directive.
The Justice Department stated in a court filing that the migrants "had already been removed from U.S. territory" when the written order was issued at 7:26 p.m. The Justice Department has appealed Boasberg’s ruling, setting the stage for a legal battle over the scope and enforceability of the injunction.
Trump's allies expressed delight at the outcome. “Oops… too late,” wrote El Salvador’s president, Nayib Bukele, on the social media site X, attaching an article about Boasberg’s ruling. Bukele agreed to house approximately 300 migrants in his country’s prisons for a year at a cost of $6 million. White House communications director Steven Cheung reposted the message. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who previously reached an agreement with Bukele to house the migrants, posted on the site, "We sent over 250+ foreign hostile members of Tren de Aragua & El Salvador has agreed to house them in their very nice prisons at a reasonable price which will also save our taxpayers money."
Steve Vladeck, a professor at Georgetown University Law Center, stated that while Boasberg’s verbal instruction for the planes to return was technically not part of his final order, the Trump administration had clearly violated the “spirit” of the order. "This will only incentivize future courts to be even more specific in their orders, leaving the government no wiggle room," Vladeck said, highlighting the potential consequences of the administration's actions on future judicial proceedings.
The deportations were carried out after Trump announced the implementation of the 1798 Alien Enemies Act, a law that 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 the president to declare that the U.S. is in a state of war, granting him extraordinary powers to detain or deport foreign nationals who would otherwise be protected by immigration or criminal law. It was last used to justify the internment of Japanese-American civilians during World War II, raising concerns about its potential for abuse and discriminatory application.
A Justice Department spokesperson on Sunday referred to an earlier statement by Attorney General Pam Bondi condemning Boasberg’s ruling and did not immediately answer questions about whether the administration had disregarded the court order. The Venezuelan government issued a statement on Sunday opposing the use of the law announced by Trump, saying it was reminiscent of “the darkest chapters in human history, from slavery to the horrors of Nazi concentration camps," underscoring the international condemnation of the administration's actions.
Tren de Aragua originated in a notorious, lawless prison in central Aragua state and has accompanied the exodus of millions of Venezuelans, the vast majority of whom are seeking better living conditions after the country’s economy collapsed over the past decade. Trump has exploited the gang in his campaign, painting misleading pictures of communities he claims are being “taken over” by what is in reality a small number of lawbreakers, fueling xenophobia and anti-immigrant sentiment.
The Trump administration has not confirmed the identities of the deported migrants or provided any evidence that they are actually members of Tren de Aragua, or that they have committed any crimes in the United States. It also sent two high-ranking members of the Salvadoran MS-13 gang, who had been arrested in the U.S., to El Salvador. Videos released by the Salvadoran government showed men disembarking from a plane and walking onto an airport tarmac lined with police in riot gear. The men were shackled at their hands and feet and hobbled along as police held their heads down, forcing them to stoop.
The videos also showed the men being transported to a prison in a large bus convoy escorted by police and military vehicles, as well as at least one helicopter. The videos showed the men kneeling on the ground, having their heads shaved before being changed into the prison’s all-white uniforms—knee-length shorts, T-shirts, socks and rubber clogs—and being placed in cells. The migrants were taken to the infamous CECOT facility, which is central to Bukele’s efforts to pacify his once-violence-ridden country through tough-on-crime policing and restrictions on basic rights.
The Trump administration said that the president had actually signed the proclamation claiming that Tren de Aragua was invading the U.S. on Friday night, but it was not announced until Saturday afternoon. Immigration lawyers said that late on Friday, they noticed that Venezuelans who would not otherwise be subject to deportation under immigration law were being transferred to Texas in preparation for deportation flights. They began filing lawsuits to block the transfers, leading to the legal challenges.
“Basically any Venezuelan citizen in the U.S. could be deported on the pretext of belonging to Tren de Aragua, with no opportunity to defend themselves,” Adam Isacson of the Washington Office on Latin America, a human rights organization, warned on X. The lawsuit that led to the halt in deportations was filed on behalf of five Venezuelan men being detained in Texas who lawyers said feared being falsely accused of being members of the gang. They warned that once the act is invoked, Trump could simply declare anyone a member of Tren de Aragua and remove them from the country, raising serious due process concerns.
Boasberg prohibited the deportation of the Venezuelans on Saturday morning when the lawsuit was filed, but only expanded it to all federal detainees who might be targeted by the act after a hearing in the afternoon. He noted that the law had never before been used outside of a war declared by Congress, and that the plaintiffs were likely to succeed in arguing that Trump had exceeded his statutory authority in invoking the law. The halt on deportations lasts for a maximum of 14 days, during which time the migrants will remain in federal detention. Boasberg has scheduled a hearing for Friday to hear more arguments in the case.
He said he had to act because the migrants facing deportation, which might actually violate the U.S. Constitution, should have the opportunity to have their requests heard in court. “Once they’re removed from the country,” Boasberg said, “there’s nothing I can do," emphasizing the importance of judicial intervention to protect individual rights and ensure due process.
