Hundreds of immigrants have been deported to El Salvador despite a federal judge’s order temporarily halting the removals.
The Trump administration enforced the deportations under the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, a rarely used wartime law, raising concerns about human rights violations.
The deportations targeted alleged members of Venezuela’s Tren de Aragua gang.
However, no substantial evidence has been presented to confirm their affiliations.
US District Judge James E. Boasberg issued a restraining order on Saturday evening to prevent the removals.
Yet, by the time the order was given, two planes carrying migrants had already taken off one bound for El Salvador and the other for Honduras.
Although Boasberg verbally instructed authorities to turn the planes around, his directive was not included in the official written order.
Consequently, the flights continued as scheduled.
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), which filed the lawsuit leading to Boasberg’s ruling, is now investigating whether the deportations directly violated the court’s decision.
The Trump administration justified its actions by claiming that Tren de Aragua posed an imminent threat to the United States.
Officials argued that the gang was “invading” the country, thereby invoking the Alien Enemies Act, which grants the president broad powers to detain or deport non-citizens during wartime.
However, critics strongly opposed this rationale.
Adam Isacson of the Washington Office for Latin America warned, “Basically any Venezuelan citizen in the US may be removed on the pretext of belonging to Tren de Aragua, with no chance at defense.”
This has raised concerns that the law is being used as a means to expel Venezuelans indiscriminately, without due process.
Moreover, Venezuela’s government condemned the decision, likening it to historical human rights abuses.
In an official statement, the administration remarked, “This declaration evokes the darkest episodes in human history, from slavery to the horror of Nazi concentration camps.”
Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele, a known ally of Trump, acknowledged the deportations in a social media post, sarcastically stating, “Oopsie, too late.”
Bukele had previously agreed to house around 300 deported migrants for a year at a cost of $6 million in El Salvador’s prison system.
Deported migrants were sent to El Salvador’s notorious CECOT facility, a high-security prison infamous for its severe conditions.
Meanwhile, human rights activists have voiced concerns about the treatment of detainees in such facilities, warning that the move could worsen their situation rather than provide justice.
The ACLU is now pressing for answers on whether the deportations violated Boasberg’s court 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 attorney.
Furthermore, legal experts argue that invoking the Alien Enemies Act in this manner sets a dangerous precedent.
The law, last used during World War II to justify the internment of Japanese Americans, was never intended to be applied in immigration enforcement cases of this nature.
