WASHINGTON – A legal and political showdown looms on Monday after the Trump administration deported hundreds of Venezuelans to El Salvador, in apparent defiance of court orders, as well as a Brown University kidney doctor.
The Trump administration says the Venezuelans are members of a controversial gang called Tren de Aragua, and that they are being deported on national security concerns. Lawyers say they have not been given due process, and legal questions about the weekend activity will be the focus of court battles on Monday and throughout the week.
Separately, the administration deported Rasha Alawieh, a Lebanese citizen and Rhode Island doctor, on Friday despite the fact that she holds a valid H1B visa as an assistant professor of medicine at Brown University.
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Follow along for live updates.
Chronology of court orders, flights in case of Venezuelans
In a filing early Monday, lawyers representing the Venezuelans laid out a timeline for their deportation flights that seemed to come after a judge temporarily blocked their removal while the case is litigated.
On Saturday morning, Chief U.S. Judge James Boasberg in Washington, D.C., temporarily blocked the deportation of five Venezuelans who challenged President Donald Trump’s invocation of the 1798 Alien Enemies Act. Boasberg held a 5 p.m. hearing where he expanded the order to cover all Venezuelans under the act that targets alleged members of the crime gang Tren de Aragua.
Two deportation flights left Harlingen, Texas: at 5:26 p.m. Eastern headed to Comayagua, Honduras, and at 5:45 p.m. Eastern headed to San Salvador, El Salvador, according to a filing by lawyers for the American Civil Liberties Union and Democracy Forward Foundation. The flights landed at 7:36 p.m. Eastern and 8:02 p.m. Eastern, respectively.
Boasberg’s oral order to turn around planes headed to other countries came between 6:45 p.m. and 6:48 p.m. Eastern, according to the lawyers.
Boasberg said during the hearing that “any plane containing these folks that is going to take off or is in the air needs to be returned to the United States.”
Government lawyers said in a filing Sunday the five initial plaintiffs weren’t deported. The filing said Boasberg’s order was published in the online court docket at 7:26 p.m. Eastern and that “some gang members subject to removal under the Proclamation has already been removed from United States territory” before the second, oral order.
The lawyers asked Boasberg to review whether the government complied with his order.
“If that is how the government proceeded, it was a blatant violation of the Court’s Order,” the lawyers wrote.
–Bart Jansen
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Trump justifies Alien Enemies Act because of ‘invasion’
President Donald Trump invoked the 1798 Alien Enemies Act to deport alleged members Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua, which has been linked to contract killings, kidnapping and organized crime.
The law says a president can invoke it during “a declared war” with a foreign nation or government, or when “any invasion or predatory incursion is perpetrated, attempted or threatened” against the United States. The law had previously been invoked only three times: during the War of 1812, World War I and World War II.
Congress hasn’t declared a war. But Trump told reporters while flying from Florida back to Washington on Sunday that he considered this a “a time of war” because foreign criminals entered the country without legal authorization during previous administrations.
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“This is a time of war, because Biden allowed millions of people, many of them criminals, many of them at the highest level, they emptied jails out,” Trump said. “That’s an invasion. They invaded our country.”
“In that sense, this is war,” Trump added. “In many respects, it’s more dangerous than war because, you know, in war, they have uniforms. You know who you’re shooting at. You know you’re going after.”
–Bart Jansen
Why were hundreds of Venezuelans deported?
Chief U.S. District Judge James Boasberg initially ordered the administration Saturday not to deport five Venezuelans who were fighting their removal from the United States. He later expanded the order to cover all Venezuelans being deported under the Alien Enemies Act.
But flight logs suggest at least two deportation flights bound for Honduras and El Salvador might have taken off or landed after Boasberg issued his second oral order.
The Trump administration has asked the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to halt Boasberg’s order while the case is litigated. The appeals court asked for written arguments Tuesday from the government and Wednesday from Venezuelans. Boasberg postponed a Monday hearing until Friday because of the appeal.
Government lawyers said in a filing Sunday that “some gang members” had “already been removed from United States territory” under Trump’s proclamation and before the court’s second order.
Lawyers representing the Venezuelans from the American Civil Liberties Union and the Democracy Forward Foundation asked Boasberg in a filing early Monday to review whether the government obeyed his order.
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Mark Zaid, a national security lawyer who has represented whistleblowers against the Trump administration and whose security clearance Trump rescinded, said the potential defiance of a court order moves the country closer to a “constitutional crisis.”
–Bart Jansen
