Through alternative means not prohibited by a federal judge, the Trump administration this year resumed expelling lots of Venezuelan migrants, including those who are suspected of belonging to the harsh Tren de Aragua group.
At least one aircraft departed the United States on Sunday amid the repercussions of U.S. District Judge James Boasberg‘s March 15 attempt, which halted arrests carried out under the Alien Enemies Act, despite an effective court order blocking large arrests under a law from the wartime era. Five Cuban nationals filed lawsuits alleging their rights were violated when they were loaded onto planes carrying around 250 workers bound for an El Salvadorian prison complex. The judge issued a decision in response to their request.
11 weeks later, President Donald Trump’s efforts to remove Cuban nationals are still going, as a result of a restarted partnership between Washington and Caracas. This day, no judge is standing in the way.
Mass immigrant removal by air are still taking place.
The first repatriation journey in weeks, a trip carrying 199 Cuban deportees left the United States on Sunday, stopped in Honduras for a transfer, and made its way to Venezuela early on Monday morning. Representatives from the United States and Hondurana confirmed that some of the passengers on board had Tren de Aragua connections.
” We anticipate a steady stream of imprisonment flights to Venezuela going ahead. The U.S. Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs praised Honduran President Castro and her state for working together to fight illegal immigration on Sunday in a , post , to X.
The commencement of persecution comes after right-wing critics have criticized Boasberg’s judgement as criminal meddling, with Trump  calling for his prosecution and House Republicans holding a hearing on April 1 to target judges who have imposed injunctions against the government’s plan.  ,
However, recent events raise concerns about whether Boasberg’s choice really stifled deportation efforts or whether it reined in the administration’s decision.
According to John Malcolm, chairman of the Meese Center for Legal and Judicial Research at the Heritage Foundation,” the administration is evidently continuing persecution, just relying on other government.” ” I’m not sure why the management felt the need to concentrate on the Alien Enemies Act in the first place, especially if it’s to expedite the process, especially for suspected gang people who haven’t had a total hear,” the president said.
Why is the Alien Enemies Act but crucial to Trump if workers are returning house?
According to an immigration specialist at the Heritage Foundation, the Alien Enemies Act provides Trump with a powerful resource to pass what leadership leaders perceive as gaps in the normal expedited removal procedure, which can slow down and frequently delay arrests for individuals who lack any valid or legal reason to remain in the country.
An alien can file for asylum with expedited removal, according to Lora Ries, director of the Border Security and Immigration Center at Heritage. An alien can be immediately detained and taken out with the Alien Enemies Act. There is no way to file a complaint about persecution or seeking asylum.
According to other legal experts, the goal of the strategy might be to establish a precedent for the future.
According to Josh Blackman, a professor of constitutional law at South Texas College of Law Houston,” I think Trump is trying to set a precedent under the [Alien Enemies Act ] to be applied in a future case, where he may not have any other statutory authority to deport aliens.”
Are the issues resolving themselves?
Some experts are concerned about whether the case before Boasberg will even remain relevant in the weeks and months that repatriation efforts are currently undergoing.
Former federal prosecutor William Shipley made the suggestion in a post to X that Trump’s use of the Alien Enemies Act may have been related to a U.S.-Venezuela sanctions conflict that was taking place when Trump invoked the law earlier this month.
After Trump imposed new sanctions against Chevron’s oil license, Venezuela had been accepting some Tren de Aragua members for weeks before halting cooperation on March 8. The United States sent three planeloads of them to El Salvador when Venezuela decided to no longer accept gang members.
On March 15, the [Alien Enemies Act ] was invoked and members of [ Tren de Aragua ] were shipped to El Salvador. Those two things don’t seem to be coincidences, Shipley said.
Boasberg is still weighing whether the Trump administration broke his request to turn around the March 15 flights, but the White House has since cited” state secrets” privilege and refused to provide basic flight information.
Any information about the deportees ‘ locations, routes, or identities would “pose a reasonable risk to national security and foreign affairs,” the Justice Department said in a court filing on Monday. According to affidavits from senior officials, including Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Marco Rubio, revealing such information would deteriorate law enforcement procedures and lead to flimsy negotiations with foreign governments.
Noem warned that even verifying public flight tracking data could help U.S. adversaries” stitch together” sensitive patterns, warning that “removal flight plans… reflect crucial means and methods of law enforcement operations.”
According to Deputy Assistant Attorney General Drew Ensign, the court already “has all the facts it needs” and warned that additional investigation would result in an unconstitutional intrusion into the president’s Article II authority.
DOJ Using State Secrets to Define Banks ‘ Information in a Deportation Case
House Republicans are still preparing to escalate their fight with the judiciary as the administration continues to deport people and the legal battle looms in limbo, even as Chief Justice John Roberts of the Supreme Court has issued a ominous warning about impeachment threats in recent days.
Trump’s deportation machine appears to be operating even amid minor legal obstacles, for the time being.
