A federal judge on Monday said the Trump administration violated basic legal safeguards when it transferred Venezuelan migrants to a high-security prison in El Salvador. He ruled that the men were entitled to due process before being removed from the United States.
U.S. District Judge James Boasberg directed the government to submit a plan within two weeks explaining how it will address the lack of legal proceedings for the migrants, either by providing court hearings or facilitating their return to the U.S. The men have since been sent back to Venezuela as part of a prisoner exchange.
“Plaintiffs should not have been removed in the manner that they were, with virtually no notice and no opportunity to contest the bases of their removal, in clear contravention of their due-process rights,” Boasberg wrote.
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The decision adds another chapter to a closely watched legal fight over the administration’s aggressive immigration enforcement strategy. The case traces back to March, when President Donald Trump invoked an 18th-century wartime statute to deport Venezuelan migrants accused of gang ties to El Salvador’s Terrorism Confinement Center, widely known as CECOT.
Despite a verbal directive from Boasberg ordering the flights to turn back, two planes carrying the migrants landed at the prison. The judge later initiated a contempt inquiry, although further action has been temporarily halted by an appeals court, easing a tense standoff between the judiciary and the executive branch.
Administration officials have insisted they did not defy the court’s order.
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In July, more than 200 of the migrants were returned to Venezuela under a prisoner swap agreement with the United States.
Boasberg’s ruling, issued by a judge appointed by former President Barack Obama, clears the way for the men to contest claims that they belong to the Tren de Aragua gang and are therefore removable under the Alien Enemies Act.
“This critical ruling makes clear that the Trump administration cannot simply spirit people off to a notorious foreign prison with zero due process and simply walk away. There are consequences,” said ACLU attorney Lee Gelernt, who represents the migrants, in an AP report.
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