A federal judge on Thursday ordered the Trump administration to make arrangements to allow the deportation of some Venezuelan migrants who were deported to the United States. A notorious prison in El Salvador To return to the United States at government expense.
The case has been a legal flashpoint in the administration’s sweeping campaign Immigration campaign. It started in March after the president Donald Trump He invoked the 18th-century Alien Enemies Act to send Venezuelan immigrants accused of gang membership to a massive prison known as the Terrorist Detention Center, or Sekot.
In Thursday’s ruling, U.S. District Judge James Bosberg in Washington criticized the White House’s response to his earlier order to come up with a plan to give the men a chance to stand trial. Challenge their takedowns.
“The government’s responses were clearly not interested in participating in this process, asking the court to crush the sand,” Boasberg wrote. The judge was nominated to the federal bench by President Barack Obama They clashed again and again With the administration regarding deportations.
White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson criticized Bosberg’s ruling, saying in a statement that it was “an absurd and illegal ruling from a far-left judicial activist who is trying to undermine the president’s legal authority to carry out deportations.”
“Americans elected President Trump on his promise to deport criminal illegal aliens and make America safe again,” she said. He added: “Boasberg has no right to stop the will of the American people, and this will not be the final say on this matter.”
The 137 men were later returned to Venezuela in a prisoner exchange brokered by the United States.
The plaintiffs’ lawyers are in contact with a few of them who have since been able to leave Venezuela and are now in a third country, their U.S. lawyer, Lee Gelernt, said at a court hearing on Monday. These guys are interested Clear their namesHe said.
Boasberg’s order stipulates that U.S. officials must provide men in third countries who wish to return to the United States with a boarding letter. The government must also cover their travel costs. He indicated that the men would be detained upon their return.
The judge ruled that these men and migrants who remained in Venezuela could also file new legal documents arguing that the presidential declaration under which they were illegally deported was based on a law of war dating back to the 18th century. Legal filings could also challenge their classification as members of the Tren de Aragua gang.
Boasberg said he could decide later whether and how to require hearings, but it would be up to the government to “address the mistake it made here and provide a way to do that.”
“If it were otherwise, the government could simply deport people from the United States without filing any process, and then, once they are in a foreign country, deny them any right to return for a hearing or opportunity to present their case from abroad,” he wrote.
In March, Trump officials transferred the Venezuelan men to prison, despite Boasberg’s verbal order for the plane to return. Boasberg then started A.J Investigation into contemptAlthough the dramatic battle between the judicial and executive branches has stopped court.
The administration denied violating his order.
Gelernt said in a statement Thursday that Boasberg “has begun the process of granting these men their right to appeal their dismissal.”
“It is striking that although the government does not dispute denying the men due process, it remains unwilling to do what is right without a court order,” he said.