The Trump administration ignored a federal judge’s order to turn back deportation flights of alleged Venezuelan gang members, claiming the planes were already over international waters when the ruling was issued, according to exclusive reporting from Axios.
White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller reportedly “orchestrated” the deportation process in coordination with Homeland Security Secretary Kristy Noem, with few outside their teams aware of the operation. By the time Judge James Boasberg ordered any flights “turned around mid-air” on Saturday evening, the two ICE deportation flights had already passed the Yucatan Peninsula.
“This is something that you need to make sure is complied with immediately,” Boasberg told the Justice Department during the hearing, but administration officials proceeded with the deportations after lawyers advised them that the judge’s ruling didn’t apply over international waters.
Judge Boasberg had issued a 14-day restraining order just hours after President Trump invoked the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to classify members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua as “alien enemies” subject to immediate removal from the United States without due process.
“I do not believe I can wait any longer and am required to act,” Boasberg said during a Saturday evening hearing in a lawsuit brought by the American Civil Liberties Union and Democracy Forward. “A brief delay in their removal does not cause the government any harm,” he added.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt issued a statement claiming the administration “did not ‘refuse to comply'” with the court order, arguing that “the order, which had no lawful basis, was issued after terrorist TdA aliens had already been removed from US territory.”
The administration’s position is that “a single judge in a single city cannot direct the movements of an aircraft carrier full of foreign alien terrorists who were physically expelled from US soil.”
When asked about the case, Leavitt told Axios, “If the Democrats want to argue in favor of turning a plane full of rapists, murderers, and gangsters back to the United States, that’s a fight we are more than happy to take.”
The president signed the executive order invoking the Alien Enemies Act on Friday night but intentionally didn’t publicize it. By Saturday afternoon, “TWO HIGHLY UNUSUAL ICE flights” were identified departing from Texas to El Salvador carrying Venezuelans.
El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele later posted a video celebrating the arrival of the Venezuelans in his country, mockingly writing “Oopsie… too late” with a crying-laughing emoji on social media alongside an image of a New York Post story about the judge’s order halting the flights.
In his proclamation, Trump claimed Tren de Aragua was “conducting irregular warfare and undertaking hostile actions against the United States” with the goal of destabilizing the nation. The Alien Enemies Act allows the president to bypass due process rights of immigrants categorized as threats and rapidly deport them.
The act has only been used three times before, all during declared wars, with its most infamous use during World War II when it was used to justify the internment of Japanese, German, and Italian Americans.
Attorney General Pam Bondi criticized Boasberg’s ruling, saying it “had supported Tren de Aragua terrorists over the safety of Americans” and “disregards well-established authority regarding President Trump’s power.”
Legal experts expressed alarm, with ACLU lawyer Lee Gelernt calling the proclamation “as lawless as anything the Trump administration has done,” adding, “We are on very dangerous ground when the administration is going to try to use wartime authority when we’re at peace.”
The case will proceed to determine whether the administration can continue using the law to target Venezuelan migrants, though the practical impact of the court’s order has already been undermined by the administration’s actions.
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