Trump administration deports hundreds of alleged gang members to El Salvador despite court ruling

The Trump administration has deported hundreds of immigrants to El Salvador, defying a federal judge’s order that temporarily barred the removals under an invoked wartime law.

The deportations, carried out under the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, targeted alleged members of Venezuela’s Tren de Aragua gang, though no evidence has been provided to confirm their affiliations.

US District Judge James E. Boasberg issued a restraining order on Saturday evening to halt the deportations, but by then, two planes carrying migrants were already in the air—one headed to El Salvador, the other to Honduras. Although Boasberg verbally ordered authorities to turn the planes around, his directive was not included in the written order, and the flights proceeded as planned.

Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele, a known ally of Trump, acknowledged the deportations in a social media post, sarcastically commenting, “Oopsie, too late.” Bukele had previously agreed to house about 300 deported migrants for a year at a cost of $6 million in his country’s prisons.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), which filed the lawsuit that led to Boasberg’s ruling, is now investigating whether the deportations directly violated the court’s order.

“We asked the government to assure the Court that its order was not violated and are waiting to hear, as well as trying to do our own investigation,” said Lee Gelernt, the ACLU’s lead lawyer.

The Alien Enemies Act, last invoked during World War II to justify the detention of Japanese Americans, grants the president sweeping authority to detain or deport non-citizens if the US is considered at war.

Trump’s administration declared that Tren de Aragua was “invading” the US, using this justification to deport Venezuelan migrants. However, critics argue that the move allows the government to expel any Venezuelan citizen without due process.

Venezuela’s government condemned Trump’s use of the act, calling it reminiscent of historical human rights abuses.

This declaration evokes the darkest episodes in human history, from slavery to the horror of Nazi concentration camps,” read an official statement.

Adam Isacson of the Washington Office for Latin America echoed these concerns, warning that “basically any Venezuelan citizen in the US may be removed on the pretext of belonging to Tren de Aragua, with no chance at defense.”

Deported migrants were transported to El Salvador’s notorious CECOT facility, a high-security prison known for its harsh conditions.