The administration of President Donald Trump has sent supposed members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua back to El Salvador from the United States, disregarding a court order that blocked their removal from the country.
This action, taken on Sunday, is part of a broader initiative by the Trump administration to deport foreign nationals—some accused of undocumented immigration, while others face actions for participating in campus protests.
Here’s an overview of the incident and whether it constituted a violation of the court’s ruling:
What occurred?
President of El Salvador, Nayib Bukele, announced on Sunday that his nation welcomed 238 members of Tren de Aragua, along with 23 individuals from the Salvadoran gang MS-13, who were deported from the US.
Bukele had previously consented to detain members of these gangs on behalf of the US during a meeting with Secretary of State Marco Rubio last month.
These deportees are now being held at the Centre for the Confinement of Terrorism (CECOT) in El Salvador for an initial period of one year, which may be prolonged.
During Trump’s inauguration speech, he indicated an intention to invoke the 1798 Alien Enemies Act. On Saturday, he officially signed a proclamation invoking this nearly 227-year-old law, claiming that Tren de Aragua is “perpetrating, attempting, and threatening an invasion or predatory incursion” into US territory. The proclamation states that all Venezuelan citizens aged 14 or older associated with the gang and not naturalized or legal permanent US residents are subject to removal as “Alien Enemies.”
In response to Trump’s order, federal Judge James Boasberg, chief judge of the District Court for the District of Columbia, issued a temporary restraining order aimed at preventing the execution of Trump’s wartime powers for deportations. This ruling followed a Saturday hearing requested by the American Civil Liberties Union.
However, shortly thereafter, Bukele confirmed that the Trump administration proceeded with the deportations regardless. He shared a snippet of a news article regarding the judge’s ruling, captioning it: “Oopsie … Too late” accompanied by a laughing emoji.
What is the Alien Enemies Act, and how does it function?
The Alien Enemies Act grants US presidents the authority to detain or deport noncitizens during periods of war. Enacted in 1798 amid fears of conflict with France, it was designed to prevent immigrants from displaying support for the French government.
This law permits the president to enforce deportations without hearings and solely based on nationality.
The act has been cited only three times historically: during the War of 1812, World War I, and World War II.
What makes this controversial?
While Trump and his supporters argue that the presence of undocumented immigrants poses a threat of “invasion,” critics contend that he is misapplying wartime legal frameworks.
A report from the Brennan Center for Justice last year declared that using the act “in peacetime to skirt traditional immigration law would be an egregious abuse.”
“Federal courts should invalidate any attempted peacetime application of the Alien Enemies Act,” it stressed.
The Fifth Amendment of the US Constitution safeguards the right to a grand jury, stating, “No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a grand jury,” with wartime being one of the rare exceptions.
The potential defiance of a judge’s order by the Trump administration adds further complexity to the situation.
The actions from the White House represent “open defiance” of Boasberg’s injunction, according to Patrick Eddington, a homeland security and civil liberties legal expert at the Cato Institute in Washington, DC.
“This behavior is extraordinary and certainly without precedent,” Eddington remarked.
Despite the criticisms, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt defended the administration.
“A single judge in a single city cannot dictate the movements of an aircraft … carrying foreign terrorist aliens who were forcibly removed from US soil,” Leavitt stated in a social media post on Sunday. She also mentioned, “Federal courts typically have no jurisdiction over the President’s handling of foreign affairs.”
In contrast, Bruce Fein, a constitutional and international law expert, disagreed vehemently.
“The president is not a king. January 20, 2025, was not a coronation,” Fein told Al Jazeera, referencing Trump’s inauguration. “The president is not Napoleon… Federal courts do indeed have authority over presidential actions. There seems to be a high likelihood that Trump violated Judge James Boasberg’s order, but we must wait for more due process.”
The Administration did not ‘refuse to comply’ with a court order. The order, which had no lawful basis, was issued after terrorist TdA aliens had already been removed from U.S. territory. The written order and the Administration’s actions do not conflict. Moreover, as the Supreme… https://t.co/DnjUsuWTLH
— Karoline Leavitt (@PressSec) March 17, 2025
Leavitt contended that the deportation had already occurred by the time the court order was delivered, although the precise timing of the deportation flight remains ambiguous.
Steve Vladeck, a legal scholar at Georgetown University’s Law Center, asserted on Bluesky that “a federal court’s jurisdiction does *not* terminate at the water’s edge.” Essentially, according to Vladeck, the deportees should be returned to the US, regardless of the timing of their departure relative to the judge’s ruling.
“The court’s authority depends on the presence of the defendant in the United States, not the plaintiffs,” Fein clarified, adding that Trump, as the defendant here, remains within the US. “He could be ordered to facilitate the return of individuals who were unlawfully deported back to the United States.”
What prompted the deportation to El Salvador?
Bukele is keeping the deportees under a deal in which the US will compensate El Salvador for their detention, as he detailed in a post on X. The Trump administration is slated to pay around $6 million for holding approximately 300 alleged Tren de Aragua members from Venezuela for a year.
Bukele also released a video on his X account showcasing handcuffed deportees being escorted and having their heads and faces shaved by masked police officers in El Salvador.
“The United States will pay a very low fee for them, but a high one for us.”
Today, the first 238 members of the Venezuelan criminal organization, Tren de Aragua, arrived in our country. They were immediately transferred to CECOT, the Terrorism Confinement Center, for a period of one year (renewable).
The United States will pay a very low fee for them,… pic.twitter.com/tfsi8cgpD6
— Nayib Bukele (@nayibbukele) March 16, 2025
Historically, Venezuela has been reluctant to accept deportees from the US. The Trump administration has instead directed Venezuelan deportees to third countries in Central America due to strained diplomatic relations. According to human rights attorney Clive Stafford Smith, about 350 deportees have been accepted by Venezuela over the past month, including roughly 180 who were held at the US naval base in Guantanamo Bay for 16 days. As per the Pew Research Center’s 2022 estimates, there are around 275,000 unauthorized Venezuelan immigrants in the US.
What is CECOT?
CECOT, or the Centre for the Confinement of Terrorism (Centro de Confinamiento del Terrorismo), is a maximum-security prison in El Salvador with a capacity of 40,000 inmates, where the alleged gang members deported by the US are now being held.
This mega-prison prohibits visits, education, and recreational activities. Inmates are not permitted to go outside.
CECOT was inaugurated in January 2023, following a directive from Bukele for its construction less than a year earlier. It is situated in Tecoluca, 72 kilometers (45 miles) east of San Salvador, the Salvadoran capital.
What is Tren de Aragua?
Tren de Aragua, translating to “the train of Aragua,” is categorized as a “foreign terrorist organization” by the United States.
Details about the group are scarce, but media reports suggest it was established in 2014 by Hector “El Nino” Guerrero and two others while imprisoned in Tocoron prison in the Venezuelan state of Aragua. The gang is said to wield significant control over the prison, allegedly orchestrating robberies, murders, and kidnappings from behind bars.
The group has been linked to the 2024 assassination of former Venezuelan army officer Ronald Ojeda, who plotted against President Nicolas Maduro. In January, Maduro was sworn in for his third consecutive six-year term following a controversial election.
A proclamation released by the White House alleges that Tren de Aragua “collaborates with Cartel de los Soles, the narco-terrorism organization supported by the Nicolas Maduro regime in Venezuela.”
What comes next?
On Sunday, Trump requested a stay from the Washington, DC, Circuit Court regarding Boasberg’s ruling. “The stay will almost certainly be denied within a few days,” Fein predicted.
Fein also noted that Trump could subsequently seek a stay from the US Supreme Court, which he believes will likely reject it.
