Obama-era activist Judge James Boasberg has ordered the Trump administration to facilitate the return of Venezuelan nationals who were lawfully removed from the United States and transferred to El Salvador.
The ruling, issued late Monday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, stems from litigation brought by far-left immigration activists challenging the Trump administration’s use of the Alien Enemies Act to remove suspected members of the violent Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua.
Back in April, the US Supreme Court vacated Judge Boasberg’s orders barring the Trump Administration’s removals of Venezuelan gang members under the Alien Enemies Act.
This comes after Judge Boasberg granted a temporary restraining order (TRO) to stop the Trump administration from deporting thousands of Venezuelan nationals believed to be members of the Tren de Aragua (TdA) gang under the Alien Enemies Act.
The high court said Boasberg lacked jurisdiction.
The Supreme Court, however, said the administration must give reasonable notice for gang members to challenge their deportations in court.
In June, Judge Boasberg then ruled that the Trump DOJ must give illegal alien Venezuelan gang members sent to El Salvador’s CECOT prison a chance to challenge their deportations.
Boasberg ruled that nearly every single one of the 140 Venezuelan gang members sent to CECOT was deported illegally.
The judge said the Trump Administration must give the deported gang members a chance to seek habeas relief in court.
“Significant evidence has come to light indicating that many of those entombed in CECOT have no connection to the gang and thus languish in a foreign prison on flimsy, even frivolous, accusations,” the judge wrote.
In a sweeping 43-page opinion released late Monday night, Boasberg declared that the United States allegedly maintained “constructive custody” over the Venezuelans even after they were transferred to El Salvador, thereby giving his court jurisdiction to intervene and order their return.
“In many constructive-custody cases, it is hard for a court to discern whether petitioners would be released upon a respondent’s request. Not so here. Petitioners have indeed been released upon the United States’s request. Since this Court’s June 4 Opinion, multiple developments have shown that the United States is able to request, and has successfully requested, the release of CECOT detainees.
First, after the Government was ordered to facilitate the return of Abrego Garcia from CECOT, he was brought back to the United States on June 6. This return followed public statements made by the President of the United States agreeing that he could “call up the president of El Salvador” to secure the return of detainees like Abrego Garcia.
Second, Plaintiffs in this case were indeed released upon the United States’s request, in what appears to be a clear prisoner exchange between our country and Venezuela.
In July, all 252 Venezuelans removed from the United States and detained in CECOT were sent to Venezuela. At the same time, ten U.S. nationals were released from Venezuela and sent back to the United States.
[…]
The Court thus concludes that the Government retained, and exercised, the power to control the return of CECOT detainees.”
According to the ruling, the court claims the Trump administration violated due-process rights by deporting suspected members of the Venezuelan criminal gang Tren de Aragua without providing individualized hearings beforehand.
As a remedy, Boasberg ordered the government to facilitate their return to the United States so they can pursue habeas corpus claims in U.S. courts.
The ruling grants the Trump administration until January 5, 2026, to facilitate the return of more than 100 Venezuelan men.
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