Despite a judge's order barring the Trump administration from carrying out its planned deportations—and an admonition to have planes that had already left turn around—hundreds of Venezuelan immigrants were flown to El Salvador, officials said Sunday. "We sent over 250 alien enemy members of Tren de Aragua which El Salvador has agreed to hold in their very good jails at a fair price that will also save our taxpayer dollars," Secretary Secretary of State Marco Rubio posted on X, per the AP. Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele posted a screenshot of the court order and mocked it. "Oopsie … Too late," he wrote, per the New York Times.
An ally of President Trump, Bukele agreed to keep about 300 immigrants for a year in El Salvador's prisons for $6 million. US District Judge James Boasberg's instruction on the flights that were in midair was given orally, so it technically wasn't part of his temporary order, an expert said. The administration's actions nonetheless violated the spirit of the judge's order, said Steve Vladeck of the Georgetown University Law Center. Trump's advisers maintain that Boasberg exceeded his authority, per Axios, in trying to stop the deportations of the men it says are gang members.
Trump had claimed the authority for deporting the Venezuelans without a hearing under the Alien Enemies Act, a law written to be used in wartime. The ACLU asked the administration for clarity Sunday on whether it had defied the court but didn't immediately receive a direct answer. The deportations could lead to a court battle, given that the US is not at war. A senior White House official agreed that that's the next step, Axios reports. "This is headed to the Supreme Court," the official said. "And we're going to win." (More mass deportations stories.)
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