President Donald Trump’s White House is celebrating his use of a rarely invoked wartime authority to carry out the mass deportation of hundreds of alleged gang members to El Salvador in an episode that fueled doubts about the ability of the U.S. court system to constrain the Trump administration’s actions.
Controversial Deportation
After a federal judge issued an unusual order Saturday evening that required all planes carrying those covered by Trump’s Alien Enemies Act declaration to return to the U.S, at least one planeload of Venezuelan deportees continued on to San Salvador and discharged its passengers to a waiting brigade of Salvadoran soldiers, police and videographers.
A grim video posted on X by El Salvador’s president, Nayib Bukele, contained movie-like scenes set over a music soundtrack and depicted soldiers leading tattooed men off an airplane, forcing them to bend toward the ground as they were frog-marched to waiting buses and had their heads shaved by hooded prison guards.
Political Responses
Statements from Bukele and from Trump allies mocking the court order issued by the chief U.S. District Judge in Washington, James Boasberg, contributed to an air of fecklessness around the U.S. legal system in Trump’s second term.
“Oopsie … Too late,” Bukele posted, along with a tears-of-joy emoji, just above a New York Post headline about a judge in Washington ordering the plane bound for El Salvador to return to the U.S.
Bukele, in another post, said the prisoner transfer was part of an agreement with the United States following discussions last month with Secretary of State Marco Rubio. He said for a “low fee” paid by the U.S, the alleged Tren de Aragua gang members will be housed in the country’s notorious Terrorism Confinement Center, a mega prison built to house over 40,000 people that has been at the center of concerns from human rights groups over violence and overcrowding.
Legal and Public Reactions
Attorney General Pam Bondi declared in a statement that the judge “supported Tren de Aragua terrorists over the safety of Americans,” and said the DOJ is “undeterred” in its work with the White House and Department of Homeland Security to “stop this invasion.”
In a statement Sunday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt touted the success of the operation and said it had “saved countless American lives” by sidelining the alleged TdA members, although all were housed in immigration detention in the U.S. for some period prior to being deported.
“Thanks to the great work of the Department of State, these heinous monsters were extracted and removed to El Salvador where they will no longer be able to pose any threat to the American People,” Leavitt said.
Legal Challenges and Public Outcry
While most Trump administration officials were publicly silent about the court order, Elon Musk, who runs Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency, replied to several posts on X criticizing the judge’s ruling and calling for his impeachment.
“Necessary,” Musk said, responding to a post from Rep. Brandon Gill (R-Texas) that said he was filing “Articles of Impeachment against activist judge James Boasberg.” Musk also replied to Bukele’s post with his own tears-of-joy emoji.
A lawyer who made arguments for halting such deportations at the Saturday court hearing said the images released by Bukele confirmed that such transfers needed to be stopped pending further court action.
Controversy and Uncertainties
While Trump and other officials asserted that the men deported Saturday were all gang members, it’s unclear how the administration made those determinations. Lawyers for some deportees said they had no gang affiliation and some had no final orders of removal from a U.S. immigration judge.
Trump invoked the Alien Enemies Act — a 1798 law enacted during John Adams’ presidency and only used three times in American history and all during times of war — in an attempt to bypass federal immigration law and override asylum claims or other legal protections the alleged gang members could pursue in U.S. immigration courts or ordinary federal courts. The Justice Department argued that Trump can determine unilaterally who poses a significant risk to the United States given his inherent authority as president over national security.
Legal Proceedings and Appeals
Boasberg’s ruling came in response to a lawsuit, brought by on behalf of five named Venezuelan immigrants. Earlier Saturday, the judge blocked the deportation of the five named plaintiffs in the suit. A Justice Department lawyer said the government complied with that order and did not deport those individuals.
However, after the hearing held by videoconference, the judge broadened his order to cover anyone being deported under Trump’s alien-enemies proclamation.
“Any plane containing these folks that is going to take off or is in the air needs to be returned to the United States however that is accomplished,” Boasberg directed at about 6:45 p.m. Saturday. “Make sure it’s complied with immediately.”
Future Implications
Trump officials have been planning for months to deploy the proclamation, which was signed Friday by the president and released publicly on Saturday. It relies on the Alien Enemies Act as a mechanism to quickly remove foreigners during wartime and allows the government to arrest, detain and deport undocumented migrants over the age of 14 who come from countries threatening an “invasion or predatory incursion” of the United States.
“I find and declare that TdA is perpetrating, attempting, and threatening an invasion or predatory incursion against the territory of the United States,” Trump wrote in his declaration.
The precise number of prisoners deported pursuant to Trump’s declaration is unclear. Leavitt said almost 300 deportees were involved, while Bukele gave a figure of 238. However, they included some alleged members of a different gang not covered by Trump’s proclamation, MS-13. Both sets of numbers exceed the number of passengers typically carried on the plane shown being unloaded in San Salvador.
