Ruling says those deported from US under 1798 law have right to challenge their removal and that Trump administration must help.
Published On 4 Jun 2025
A federal judge in the United States has ruled that Venezuelan immigrants deported to El Salvador under an obscure 1798 law must be given the chance to challenge their removals and detention.
The ruling on Wednesday by Judge James Boasberg is the latest setback to President Donald Trump’s efforts to use the Alien Enemies Act to quickly expel alleged gang members from the US without due process.
Trump initially invoked the wartime law in March, arguing that the presence of the Tren de Aragua gang in the US represented an invasion.
Trump’s use of the law to fast-track deportations was quickly blocked by Boasberg, but not before two planes carrying 238 deportees had already departed the US for El Salvador. The Trump administration refused the judge’s order to turn the plane around.
Boasberg has since said he has found probable cause to believe the administration committed contempt of court.
Upon landing in El Salvador, the deportees were locked up in El Salvador’s Terrorism Confinement Centre, known as the CECOT prison, as part of a deal with the Trump administration.
In Wednesday’s order, Boasberg wrote that there was “significant evidence” indicating that many of the individuals imprisoned in El Salvador are not connected to Tren de Aragua.
They “thus languish in a foreign prison on flimsy, even frivolous, accusations”, Boasberg said.
Court documents previously indicated that some of the men may have been deported