US must arrange return of deported Venezuelans, judge rules

A judge ruled that President Donald Trump’s administration must arrange for the return of a group of alleged Venezuelan gang members deported to a prison in El Salvador.

US District Judge James Boasberg ruled that about 137 men sent in March to the notorious CECOT prison deserve to return to the US to contest in court how they were designated for removal without due process under the 1798 Alien Enemies Act. Boasberg said the government must “facilitate” their return and submit a plan within two weeks.

Boasberg declared Monday that the men “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.” Even though the men were later sent to Venezuela, he said, the court continued to have jurisdiction over them.

As a result, the US must “undo the effects of their unlawful removal by facilitating a meaningful opportunity to contest their designation” as alien enemies under a law previously used only in wartime, and the validity of Trump’s proclamation invoking that statute, Boasberg ruled.

Boasberg has clashed repeatedly with Trump’s administration since he unsuccessfully ordered the return of planes carrying suspected gang members to the prison on March 15. The planes proceeded anyway, and the US Supreme Court upheld his ruling that the detainees should have had notice and a chance to make their case to a judge before they were deported.

The judge has also investigated whether Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and others were in contempt of court for the Venezuelan deportations. But the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit temporarily halted hearings he had scheduled to start Dec. 15 after the US argued he has no constitutional authority to proceed and compel testimony from current and former government attorneys. The panel said it’s still reviewing the case.

A spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.