Over 200 Venezuelans, whom the White House has labeled as gang members, have been deported from the United States to a high-security prison in El Salvador, despite a federal judge's order blocking these removals. El Salvador's President Nayib Bukele announced on social media that 238 individuals associated with the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua, along with 23 members of the notorious MS-13 gang, arrived in the country on Sunday morning.
Neither the US government nor El Salvador has disclosed the identities of the detainees or provided specifics regarding their alleged criminal activities or gang affiliations. A federal judge had previously ruled against the Trump administration's attempt to use an old wartime law to justify some of these deportations, but the flights had already taken off.
In a social media post, Bukele remarked, "Oopsie... Too late," in reference to the judge's decision. A video shared in one of his posts depicted groups of shackled individuals being escorted by armed officials from the aircraft.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt refuted claims that the court ruling had been disregarded, stating, "The administration did not 'refuse to comply' with a court order." She added that the order, which lacked a legal foundation, was issued after the alleged members of Tren de Aragua had already been removed from US soil.
On Saturday, President Donald Trump announced that he had enacted a proclamation under the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, accusing Tren de Aragua of "perpetrating, attempting, and threatening an invasion or predatory incursion against the territory of the United States." He asserted that gang members would be deported for engaging in "irregular warfare" against the US. This act was last invoked during World War II to intern Japanese-American civilians.
Later that evening, US District Judge James Boasberg in Washington, DC, issued a 14-day suspension of deportations related to Trump's proclamation, pending further legal discussions.
After being informed by lawyers that flights carrying deportees had already departed, Judge Boasberg issued a verbal directive for those flights to return, according to reports from US media. However, this instruction was not included in his official written ruling.
The formal notice was recorded in the case docket at 7:25 PM EDT on Saturday (12:25 AM GMT on Sunday), as reported by Reuters, but it remains unclear when the flights transporting the alleged gang members actually left the US. In a court document submitted on Sunday, attorneys from the Department of Justice stated that the order was no longer applicable since the deportees "had already been removed from United States territory."
A senior official from the administration informed CBS News, the BBC's US partner, that 261 individuals were deported on Saturday, with 137 of them being removed under the Alien Enemies Act due to suspected gang affiliations. The Justice Department has filed an appeal against the judge's decision.
The American Civil Liberties Union, which participated in the lawsuit against the Trump administration, claimed that the court's order might have been disregarded. This case raises significant constitutional issues, as government agencies are expected to adhere to a federal judge's ruling under the US system of checks and balances.
Venezuela criticized Trump's invocation of the Alien Enemies Act, arguing that it "unjustly criminalizes Venezuelan migration" and "recalls the darkest chapters in human history, from slavery to the atrocities of Nazi concentration camps." Human rights organizations condemned Trump, accusing him of leveraging a 227-year-old law to bypass due process.
Amnesty International USA expressed on X that the deportations exemplified "yet another instance of the Trump administration's racist targeting" of Venezuelans "based on broad allegations of gang connections." President Bukele, an ally of Trump, noted that the detainees were swiftly transferred to El Salvador's infamous mega-jail, the Terrorism Confinement Center (Cecot).
The president of El Salvador announced that individuals would be detained there "for a period of one year," with the possibility of extension. The Cecot prison in El Salvador is a key component of Bukele's initiative to combat organized crime in the nation. This newly constructed maximum-security facility has the capacity to accommodate up to 40,000 inmates, but human rights organizations have raised concerns about the treatment of those incarcerated there.
The agreement between the United States and El Salvador reflects a deepening of diplomatic relations. El Salvador was the second stop for Rubio during his tenure as the US's leading diplomat. During his visit in February, Bukele proposed to accept US deportees, suggesting that it would help finance the extensive Cecot facility.
The recent deportations during Trump's second term are part of his ongoing efforts to address illegal immigration in the United States. In January, Trump issued an executive order designating Tren de Aragua and MS-13 as foreign terrorist organizations. He gained support from voters by pledging to implement the largest deportation initiative in US history. Although illegal border crossings have significantly decreased to their lowest levels in decades since Trump assumed office, the Republican president has expressed frustration over the relatively slow rate of deportations thus far.