The Justice Department on Tuesday alleged that the deportation flight that sent Venezuelan citizens to El Salvador over the weekend did not violate a court order.
The federal response came after U.S. District Judge James Boasberg temporarily blocked a 14-day flight after granting the emergency order on Saturday, while his court considered using the wartime alien enemy law of 1798 to immediately deport Venezuelans and suspected members of violent gangster Tren de Aragaa. He ordered the Trump administration on Monday to submit more information about Saturday's flights, including the time each plane takes off from the US.
“The court ordered the government to address a form that could provide details regarding flights that left the United States by 7:25pm,” reads a filing co-signed by Attorney General Pamela Bondy and Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche on Tuesday. “The government argues that there is no justification to order additional information and that accepting the plaintiff's explanation of facts is inappropriate to do so as it is not violated by the written order of the court (after the order was issued because the relevant flight left the US airspace), and the court was not a former court, and was previously not independent.
In granting the emergency order on Saturday, Boasberg argued plaintiffs forward democracy and the ACLU allies that deportation would cause impending “irreparable” harm to immigrants under proposed times.
The Trump administration has a deadline to disclose details of deportation flights after a judge's order
The prison guards will relocate deporters from the United States, who are said to be members of a Venezuelan gang in Tecolca, El Salvador, on March 16, 2025. (President's Press Office via the AP)
Boasberg also ordered the Trump administration on Saturday to immediately suspend planned deportations and notify clients that “we need to take off or return the planes to the US, including these people in the air.”
However, the decision was apparently too late to stop two planes filled with more than 200 migrants deported to El Salvador.
Reading DOJ filing – App users, please click here:
White House press chief Karoline Leavitt told Fox News in an interview that planes containing hundreds of migrants, including more than 130 migrants, under the alien enemy law, had already “departed our airspace” by the time the order was handed over.
We paid El Salvador to take members of Venezuela Tren de Aragua, the White House says.
The prison guards will send exiles from the United States to a terrorist confinement center in Tekolka, El Salvador on Sunday. (President's Press Office via the AP)
“Ice has understood the call to the alien enemy declaration regarding US invasion so that it will only be effective if posted on the White House website at or around 3:53pm on EDT on March 15, 2025.
“On March 15, 2025, after the declaration was made public and enacted, three alien-carrying planes departed the US for El Salvador International Airport (SAL). Two of these planes departed US territory and airspace before 7:25pm.
James Boasberg (Valerie Press/Bloomberg via Getty)
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“To avoid doubt, none of the flights departing the US after the 7:25pm EDT on March 15, 2025, was removed based on the declaration of issue. ICE will carefully track TDA members suitable for the removal procedure. Detainees against them will likely be the removal procedure if transferred to ice custody,” he said.
David Spunt of Fox News contributed to this report.
