The Venezuelan migrants, removed from the Trump administration of El Salvador’s Trump administration last week, deserved to hold a court hearing before their deportations to determine whether they belong to the Tren de Aragua gang, Federal judge ordered Monday morning.
In a decision denying the Trump administration’s request to dissolve its order, blocking the deportations, US district judge James Boasberg wrote that “the unprecedented use of Trump” of the Alien Enemy Enemy Act does not eliminate the responsibility of the government to guarantee that they can challenge them.
Trump referred to the Law on Alien Enemies-Organ Act for wartime used to deport non-citizens with a bit to a proper process-as he claims that Venezuelan band Tren de Aragua is a “hybrid criminal status” that invades the United States
“The court should not resolve the thorny question of whether the judiciary has the power to evaluate this request in the first place. This is because the plaintiffs are likely to succeed in another equally fundamental theory: before they can be deported, they are entitled to individualized hearing to determine whether the law is being applied to them.”
Judge Boasberg acknowledged that the use of the Law on Enemies of Aliens “suggests many complex legal issues,” but surrounds the greater question of whether the law is correctly called, instead focuses on the due process deserved by men. He added that the men were irreparably injured by their removal at Salvadoran’s prison, where they were faced with “torture, beatings and even death.”
“The federal courts are equipped to resolve this issue when people threatened with detention and elimination dispute their designation as such. Because the plaintiffs dispute that they are members of Tren de Aragua, they cannot be deported until the court is able to resolve the merits of their dispute,” he writes.
Judge Boasberg also questioned the Trump administration’s claim that the decision was rising national security, noting that men would still be detained in the United States if they had not been deported.
The alleged members of the Venezuelan criminal organization Tren de Aragua, who were deported by the US government, were detained at the Tecoluka Terrorism Center, El Salvador in a photo received on March 16, 2025.
Chairman of El Salvador/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
During a court hearing on Friday, DOJ’s attorneys admitted that men deported by the Law on Enemy Enemies were entitled to hearing Habeas – where they could challenge their alleged membership in Tren de Aragua – but declined to have a hearing from the country.
Boasberg’s decision comes as a federal Court of Appeal is preparing to listen to arguments on Monday over the use of the Trump administration of the Law on Enemy Enegers for last week’s deportations.
If the DC Court of Appeal overturns Boasberg’s blockage from the use of the president from the age -old military law, the Trump administration may exercise the power to deport any suspect member of the migrant gang with a small to due process.
The lawyers representing the Venezuelan men, directed under Trump’s proclamation, claim that the president exceeded his power by using the Law on Foreign Enemies against a Gang – not a state actor – outside of wartime.
“The president is trying to write the boundaries of the law,” the plaintiffs say, adding that US presidents used the law three times in time or an immediate predicted war.
The Trump administration, however, claims that the judiciary has no right to review the use of the Law on Alien enemies, claiming that deportations fall within the powers of President II to eliminate the alleged terrorists and execute the foreign policy of the country.
“The action of the president is legal and is based on the long history of the use of military authorities against organizations related to foreign countries and national security decisions that are not subject to a court second guess,” said DOJ lawyers in court documents.
Last week, Boasberg temporarily blocked the use of the President’s law to deport more than 200 alleged band members without a proper process, calling the removal “terribly frightening” and “incredibly disturbing”. Subsequently, an employee of US Immigration and Customs Implementation acknowledged in a sworn statement that “many of the” not deported, the deported last Wekend under the Law on Foreign Enemies did not have criminal records in the United States.
The Trump Administration asks the Court of Appeal to annul the temporary restraining order of Boasberg, blocking deportations, while Judge Boasberg continues to check that the Trump administration has deliberately disproves his order by sending the men to Salvadoran’s prison and not returning them to the United States.
“At that moment, the government is not terribly joint, but I will come to the bottom of whether they have violated my command and who ordered this and what the consequence is,” Boasberg said on Friday.
With temporarily blocked deportations under the Law on Alien enemies, the Trump administration has sworn to use other authorities to deport non -iconic. Over the weekend, Venezuelan National Assembly President Jorge Rodriguez has announced that the country has reached an agreement to resume the Venezuelan Migrants’ repatriation flights from the United States
“We will continue to focus on the worst of the worst we do from the first day, and deportation from the United States through the various laws of books,” Tom Homan Border Tom Homan told Jon Karl of ABC on Sunday.
Hearing three persons listening to today’s arguments includes two judges nominated by Republican presidents, including one nominated by Trump himself. The DC scheme is the last stop before the Trump administration can bring the case to the US Supreme Court, where Trump nominates three judges during its last term, reinforcing the conservative majority of court.
