Judge incredulous as administration contends verbal court order on deportation isn’t binding – report
Tonight’s high-stakes hearing, in which a Trump administration lawyer was asked whether the Trump administration simply ignored a judge’s order to halt deportation flights, ended around 6pm ET, and the bigger picture analysis of what happened is coming in.
My Guardian colleagues will have more on this soon, but the Associated Press has a quick and useful overview of what happened:
A federal judge on Monday was incredulous at the contention by the Trump administration that his directive to turn around deportation flights wasn’t binding because it was made verbally.
District court Judge James Boasberg made the demand Saturday night as he temporarily halted deportations under wartime powers President Donald Trump had declared minutes earlier under a rarely used 18th century law. But planes were already en route to El Salvador.
The plaintiffs in the lawsuit asked Boasberg to determine if the administration violated his order. But an administration lawyer on Monday wouldn’t answer many of the judge’s questions, saying the judge had no right to the information.
Key events
Timeline of the deportation flights crisis
The Associated Press has made a timeline of Trump administration’s invocation of the Alien Enemies Act to deport Venezuelan migrants in the US to El Salvador this weekend.
The precise timing of these events is currently center of a heated legal battle that experts say risks turning into a constitutional crisis.
Saturday, 15 March
2.16am: Two legal advocacy groups – the ACLU and Democracy Forward – file suit on behalf of five Venezuelans held in immigration detention who fear they’ll be falsely labeled members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua and deported under the Alien Enemies Act, which lawyers expect to be invoked soon.
9.40am: Judge James Boasberg issues a temporary restraining order preventing the government from deporting the five plaintiffs. He schedules a 5pm hearing on whether to expand it. The Trump administration swiftly appeals the order.
Roughly 4pm: The White House posts the order invoking the Alien Enemies Act.
5pm: Boasberg convenes a hearing and asks the government attorney, Deputy Assistant Attorney General Drew Ensign, if the government plans to deport anyone under Trump’s new proclamation “in the next 24 or 48 hours”. Ensign says he doesn’t know and asks for time to find out, as the ACLU warns planes are apparently about to depart. Boasberg gives Ensign about 40 minutes to find out and recesses the hearing at 5.22pm.
5.26pm: An airplane with the tail number N278GX, believed by activists to be carrying deportees, leaves Harlingen, Texas, near the border with Mexico, according to the flight tracking website FlightAware.
5.45pm: Another airplane with the tail number N837VA, believed by activists to be carrying deportees, departs Harlingen.
About 5.55pm: Boasberg reconvenes the hearing. Ensign says he still has no specifics. The ACLU again warns that planes are leaving. Boasberg says he has to issue a new order to avoid anyone being immediately deported.
Around 6.45pm: Boasberg tells Ensign: “Inform your clients of this immediately, and that any plane containing these folks that is going to take off or is in the air needs to be returned to the United States.” He verbally issues his order, which stands for 14 days, and notes that immigrants protected by it will remain in US custody.
7.26pm: Boasberg’s written order is released.
7.36pm: The plane with the tail number N278GX lands in Honduras.
7.37pm: An airplane with the tail number N630VA, believed by activists to be carrying deportees, departs Harlingen.
8.02pm: The plane with the tail number N837VA lands in El Salvador.
9.46pm: The plane with the tail number N630VA arrives in Honduras.
10.41pm: The plane with the tail number N278GX departs Honduras.
Sunday, 16 March:
1.03am: The plane with the tail number N630VA arrives in El Salvador.
7.46am: El Salvador’s president, Nayib Bukele, tweets a New York Post headline saying Boasberg had ordered planes turned around and adds “Oopsie … Too late” and a laughing/crying emoji.
8.13am: Bukele tweets footage of the deportees arriving and being processed into his country’s showcase prison.
Hugo Lowell
The Trump administration claimed to a federal judge on Monday that it did not recall deportation flights of hundreds of suspected Venezuelan gang members over the weekend despite his specific instructions because that was not expressly included in the formal written order issued afterwards.
The administration also said that even if James Boasberg, the chief US district judge in Washington, had included that instruction in his formal order, his authority to compel the planes to return disappeared the moment the planes entered international airspace.
The extraordinary arguments suggested the White House took advantage of its own perceived uncertainty with a federal court order to do as it pleased, testing the limits of the judicial system to hold to account an administration set on circumventing adverse rulings.
An incredulous Boasberg at one stage asked the administration: “Isn’t then the better course to return the planes to the United States and figure out what to do, than say: ‘We don’t care; we’ll do what we want’?”
ACLU lawyer: ‘I think we’re getting very close’ to a constitutional crisis
A lawyer for the American Civil Liberties Union made a memorable comment during the court hearing earlier today examining whether the Trump administration simply ignored a judge’s order to halt the deportations of Venezuelan migrants to El Salvador.
Lee Gelernt is the lead attorney for the plaintiffs in the legal case over Trump’s invocation of the Alien Enemies Act, which generated an order from US district judge James Boasberg’s telling the government to halt the deportations in question, and return any planes carrying the people being deported to the United States.
Whether the Trump administration defied that order, and what will happen if the administration refuses to follow legal orders from the judiciary in this or other cases, is currently in question. After a lawyer for the administration refused to provide any details in court today, citing national security concerns, Boasberg has ordered the administration to answer a series of questions about the deportations by noon tomorrow.
ACLU Lee Gelernt to a judge over the Trump admin’s response to Judge Boasberg’s order:
“There has been a lot of talk the last couple of weeks about a constitutional crisis. I think we’re getting very close to that.”
— Adam Klasfeld (@KlasfeldReports) March 17, 2025
Family members of missing Venezuelan migrants wonder if tattoos were a target
More from Reuters on the family members of Venezuelan migrants still searching for answers as they fear their loved ones were flown by the US government to a prison in El Salvador:
Solanyer Sarabia believes she saw her 19-year-old brother, Anyelo, among images shared online of the Venezuelans deported to El Salvador’s mega-prison. His head had been shaved and he was dressed in white prison garb.
Solanyer said an ICE officer told her that her brother was detained because of a tattoo that linked him to Tren de Aragua, a violent gang with Venezuelan prison origins that has spread through the Americas. She said the tattoo depicted a rose and that he had gotten it in a tattoo parlor in Dallas.
“He thought it looked cool, looked nice, it didn’t have any other significance,” she said, stressing that he is not a gang member.
Johanny Sanchez, 22, suspects her husband Franco Caraballo, 26, who was detained in Texas, could now be in El Salvador, but does not know for sure.
Caraballo had multiple tattoos including ones of roses, a clock with this daughter’s birth time, a lion and a shaving razor, said his wife.
“I’ve never seen him without hair, so I haven’t recognized him in the photos,” she said. “I just suspect he’s there because of the tattoos that he has and right now any Venezuelan man with tattoos is assumed to be a gang member”, she added, citing also the fact that he has effectively gone missing.
Sanchez said her husband has never been a member of Tren de Aragua.
ICE did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the two cases.
Relatives of missing Venezuelan migrants desperate for answers after US deportations
Family members of Venezuelan migrants who suspect their loved ones were sent to El Salvador as part of a rapid US deportation operation over the weekend are struggling to get more information as a fraught legal battle plays out, Reuters reports.
The Trump administration has provided few details so far on the identities of the Venezuelans deported to El Salvador, a move that the Trump administration has said is legally justified using the president’s authority under the 1798 Alien Enemies Act.
“It’s extremely disturbing that hundreds of people were flown on U.S. government planes to El Salvador and we still have no information on who they are, their attorneys were not notified and families are left excruciatingly in the dark,” said Lindsay Toczylowski, the executive director at the Immigrant Defenders Law Center.
Advocates have launched a WhatsApp helpline for people searching for family members, while immigration attorneys have tried to locate their clients after they went dark.
Abené Clayton
White House removes advisory defining gun violence as a public health issue
The Trump administration has removed former surgeon general Vivek Murthy’s advisory on gun violence as a public health issue from the US Department of Health and Human Services’ website. This move was made to comply with Donald Trump’s executive order to protect second amendment rights, a White House official told the Guardian.
The “firearm violence in America” page, where the advisory had been posted, was filled with data and information about the ripple effects of shootings, the prevalence of firearm suicides and the number of American children and adolescents who have been shot and killed. Now, when someone reaches the site they will be met with a “page not found” message.
What’s been ordered: more details on the next steps of the deportation flights case
In an escalating battle between the Trump administration’s justice department and the federal judiciary, a Trump administration lawyer refused this evening to answer many questions that US district judge James Boasberg asked about whether the administration had violated his order this weekend demanding that deportation flights be returned to the US.
The Trump administration is arguing that the details of the flights are national security secrets it does not have to disclose, perhaps even to the judge.
Here’s what Boasberg has ordered the Trump administration to do by noon on Tuesday. Note that the judge has made clear that part of this information may be “sealed”, or not available to the public.
…the Government shall file a Notice, which may, if necessary, be sealed in part, setting forth: 1) A sworn declaration that no one on any flight departing the United States after 7:25 p.m. on March 15, 2025, was removed solely on the basis of the Proclamation at issue; 2) A sworn declaration setting forth when the Proclamation at issue was signed, when it was made public, and when it went into effect; 3) The Government’s best estimate of the number of individuals subject to the Proclamation currently remaining in the United States and how many are currently in U.S. custody; and 4) The Government’s position on whether, and in what form, it will provide answers to the Court’s questions regarding the particulars of the flights. Such form could include in camera review or in a classified setting. If the Government takes the position that it will not provide that information to the Court under any circumstances, it must support such position, including with classified authorities if necessary.
It’s worth noting that Boasberg, a federal judge, previously served a seven-year term on the United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, according to his official biography. Boasberg was nominated for that role by the current chief justice of the supreme court, John Roberts. That role involves a higher level of security clearance and frequently working with “top secret” and sensitive government information.
More details on the conflict that led to ‘Doge has broken into our building’
As the CEO of the non-profit US Institute for Peace says that employees of Elon Musk’s “department of government efficiency” have “broken into our building”, Associated Press has more background on what’s happening, and on the dispute over the Institute of Peace’s legal status:
The DOGE workers gained access to the Institute of Peace building after several unsuccessful attempts Monday and after having been turned away on Friday, a senior US Institute of Peace official said. The official spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter.
It was not immediately clear what the DOGE staffers were doing or looking for in the nonprofit’s building, which is across the street from the State Department in the Foggy Bottom neighborhood.
President Donald Trump targeted the organization and a few others in a 19 February executive order that aims to shrink the size of the federal government. The administration has since moved to fire and cancel programs at some of those organizations.
DOGE has expressed interest in the U.S. Institute of Peace for weeks but has been rebuffed by lawyers who argued that the institute’s status protected it from the kind of reorganization that is occurring in other federal agencies.
On Friday, DOGE members arrived with two FBI agents, who left after the institute’s lawyer told them of USIP’s “private and independent status,” the organization said in a statement.
The US Institute of Peace says on its website that it’s a nonpartisan, independent organization “dedicated to protecting US interests by helping to prevent violent conflicts and broker peace deals abroad.”
The nonprofit says it was created by Congress in 1984 as an “independent nonprofit corporation,“ and it does not meet US Code definitions of “government corporation,” “government-controlled corporation” or “independent establishment.”
‘Doge has broken into our building,’ non-profit CEO says
Employees of Elon Musk’s “department of government efficiency” have entered the US Institute of Peace despite protests from the non-profit that it is not part of the executive branch and is instead an independent agency, the Associated Press reports.
Meanwhile, the New York Times reports that Musk’s employees entered the nonprofit “with the help of Washington’s Metropolitan Police Department”, citing a phone call with Sophia Lin, a lawyer for the institute.
Per the New York Times: “Lin said that the U.S. Institute for Peace called the D.C. police on the Musk team members in an effort to stop them from trespassing because the institute has control of its own building and the land it sits on. But instead, the D.C. police allowed them to enter and kicked out the institute’s officials.”
We’ll share more information on this situation as it develops.
The president of a small US federal agency that invests in businesses in South America and the Caribbean has sued on Monday to block her firing last month by the Trump administration, the Associated Press reports:
After Sara Aviel was fired from the Inter-American Foundation, a Trump appointee declared himself the acting president and laid off almost the entire staff. Since then, the administration has canceled essentially all of the agency’s contracts.
“This wholesale gutting of the IAF by the Government flies in the face of the law,” Aviel said in her suit.
The Trump administration also targeted three other independent federal agencies for closure.
Venezuelan government calls deportation flights ‘kidnappings’, ‘crimes’
As the courtroom drama over the deportation flights built in the US today, so did international fallout over the deportations, the Associated Press reports:
Venezuela’s government on Monday characterized the transfer of Venezuelan migrants to El Salvador as “kidnappings” that it plans to challenge as “crimes against humanity” before the United Nations and other international organizations. It also accused the Central American nation of profiting off the plights of Venezuelan migrants.
“They are not detaining them, they are kidnapping them and expelling them,” Jorge Rodriguez, President Nicolas Maduro’s chief negotiator with the US, told reporters Monday.
Reuters had some additional details on the reaction from Venezuelan officials, some of which we noted earlier today:
Venezuelans deported over the weekend to El Salvador by the United States have been denied due process, the president of Venezuela’s National Assembly, Jorge Rodriguez, said on Monday.
Speaking at a press conference, Rodriguez said the people deported were not known to have committed any crimes in the United States or El Salvador, and that Venezuela would do everything it can to have them returned home. The Trump administration says those deported belong to the Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan gang that has been linked to kidnapping, extortion and contract killings.
Of the more than 600 migrants who have been returned to Venezuela from the United States and Mexico on deportation flights since February, just 16 were facing some sort of judicial process and none were members of the Tren de Aragua, Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello said on state television.
Trump revokes Secret Service protection for Hunter and Ashley Biden
Donald Trump is revoking Secret Service protection for former president Joe Biden’s children Hunter Biden and Ashley Biden.
Trump made the announcement in a post on Truth Social, Reuters reports:
“Hunter Biden has had Secret Service protection for an extended period of time, all paid for by the United States Taxpayer,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social.
“Please be advised that, effective immediately, Hunter Biden will no longer receive Secret Service protection. Likewise, Ashley Biden who has 13 agents will be taken off the list,” Trump added.
Trump’s announcement came hours after a reporter asked Trump about Hunter Biden’s Secret Service detail. The president said he had not been aware of it but would look into it.
Judge incredulous as administration contends verbal court order on deportation isn’t binding – report
Tonight’s high-stakes hearing, in which a Trump administration lawyer was asked whether the Trump administration simply ignored a judge’s order to halt deportation flights, ended around 6pm ET, and the bigger picture analysis of what happened is coming in.
My Guardian colleagues will have more on this soon, but the Associated Press has a quick and useful overview of what happened:
A federal judge on Monday was incredulous at the contention by the Trump administration that his directive to turn around deportation flights wasn’t binding because it was made verbally.
District court Judge James Boasberg made the demand Saturday night as he temporarily halted deportations under wartime powers President Donald Trump had declared minutes earlier under a rarely used 18th century law. But planes were already en route to El Salvador.
The plaintiffs in the lawsuit asked Boasberg to determine if the administration violated his order. But an administration lawyer on Monday wouldn’t answer many of the judge’s questions, saying the judge had no right to the information.
Trump administration officials continue their attacks on deportation flight judge
CNN reports: “White House deputy chief of staff for policy Stephen Miller today said the White House believes the Supreme Court will back its efforts to deport migrants.”
Earlier today, Miller attacked US district judge James Boasberg, who held a hearing today asking the Trump administration to explain whether it had simply ignored his order to turn around flights attempting to deport alleged Venezuelan gang members by invoking the Alien Enemies Act, a law from 1798 that is meant to be used during wartime.
Stephen Miller (@stephenm): “A district court judge has no authority to direct the national security operations of the executive branch. The president is operating at the apex of his authority…” pic.twitter.com/aautEE0WDx
— CSPAN (@cspan) March 17, 2025
CSPAN has more on Miller’s comments:
Stephen Miller (@stephenm): “If a district court judge can be involved in the conduct of our foreign policy, under no definition do we have a democracy in this country we no longer have a democracy.” pic.twitter.com/Qe6q8U6kT1
— CSPAN (@cspan) March 17, 2025
As we noted earlier, the Trump administration also wrote a letter today asking the United States court of appeals for the District of Columbia to remove Boasberg from the case:
Ensign: “This Court should also immediately reassign this case to another district court judge given the highly unusual and improper procedures—e.g. certification of a class action involving members of a designated foreign terrorist organization” https://t.co/JBTuJeQoRu
— Hugo Lowell (@hugolowell) March 17, 2025
Justice department must provide more details on deportation flights by noon on Tuesday
A high-stakes hearing over whether the Trump administration simply ignored a judge’s order to turn around its flights deporting alleged Venezuelan gang members has ended, multiple news outlets are reporting.
US district judge James Boasberg said he would not make any rulings today about whether the Trump administration violated his order, but has asked the administration to “tell him by noon on Tuesday exactly what time it believes his order stopping the deportation flights went into effect on Saturday”, the New York Times’ Alan Feuer reports.
Politico’s Kyle Cheney characterized Boasberg as “incredulous” in response to some of the Trump administration lawyer’s arguments that Boasberg’s order had no power outside of US airspace.
The hearing is over. Boasberg was incredulous that DOJ claimed he had no authority to order the plane to turn around just because it crossed out of US airspace — something he said was well-established in many contexts.
He wants details about whether DOJ openly defied his order…
— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) March 17, 2025
Could the Trump administration have responded to an order to turn around its deportation flights by complying with the order, and then taking legal action to appeal or modify it, Judge James Boasberg asks, rather “than say, ‘We don’t care.’”
Adam Klasfeld reporting from the deportation flights hearing just now:
Judge Boasberg presses the DOJ lawyer on what the government could have done with a ruling they believed to be unlawful: appeal or seek to modify it.
“Isn’t then the better course — to return the planes to the United States and figure out what to do, than say, ‘We don’t care;…
— Adam Klasfeld (@KlasfeldReports) March 17, 2025
CNN similarly reports that Boasberg has characterized the justice department’s reasoning in response to his order as “‘We don’t care, we’ll do what we want.’”
