In a stinging rebuke of the Trump administration’s immigration tactics, a federal judge on Wednesday ordered the U.S. government to allow hundreds of migrants deported under the Alien Enemies Act to challenge their detentions and removals in court, ruling that their constitutional right to due process was denied.
The migrants were flown in March to CECOT, a maximum-security prison in El Salvador, days after President Donald Trump invoked the Alien Enemies Act to target individuals he claimed were part of Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan gang his administration labeled a terrorist group. The move allowed the government to bypass standard removal procedures and deport noncitizens without hearings.
But U.S. District Judge James Boasberg ruled the administration had violated the Constitution by denying the migrants a meaningful opportunity to contest their deportations.
“Defendants plainly deprived these individuals of their right to seek habeas relief before their summary removal,” Boasberg wrote in the ruling. “Perhaps the President lawfully invoked the Alien Enemies Act. Perhaps… Plaintiffs are gang members. But… there is simply no way to know for sure.”
The ruling applies specifically to individuals deported on March 15 and 16, 2025, under Trump’s “Invocation of the Alien Enemies Act Regarding the Invasion of The United States by Tren De Aragua.”
Judge Boasberg noted that some of the detainees — currently imprisoned in CECOT, which has drawn international criticism for its brutal conditions — may have no connection at all to the gang.
“Significant evidence has come to light indicating that many of those currently entombed in CECOT… languish in a foreign prison on flimsy, even frivolous, accusations,” Boasberg wrote.
He gave the Trump administration one week to propose a plan to facilitate habeas relief for the affected migrants. While the judge acknowledged that carrying out the order could raise diplomatic and national security concerns, he affirmed that the migrants’ rights must be respected under U.S. law.
Trump Administration Under Fire
President Trump used the Alien Enemies Act, a rarely invoked wartime law from 1798, to fast-track the deportation of individuals he said were part of a foreign threat. The administration claimed that Tren de Aragua was using mass illegal migration to advance a violent agenda in the U.S.
On March 17 — one day after the proclamation — the administration announced that hundreds of Venezuelan nationals were deported on at least two chartered flights to El Salvador. Judge Boasberg had already issued an injunction to halt the removals, but officials proceeded with the deportations anyway.
The Supreme Court later sided with the lower courts, ruling unanimously that individuals removed under the Act must be given time and access to the courts to contest the government’s claims. Despite the ruling, the administration had not yet taken steps to allow the deported migrants access to legal remedy until Wednesday’s decision.
Political and Legal Reactions
White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson blasted the court’s decision, saying, “Fortunately for the American people, Judge Boasberg does not have the last word.”
But attorneys representing the migrants hailed the ruling as a necessary check on executive overreach.
“The court properly recognized that the government cannot send people to a notorious foreign gulag without due process and then wash its hands of the situation,” said ACLU attorney Lee Gelernt, who led the legal challenge.
The decision is the latest legal setback for the Trump administration’s immigration agenda in its second term, and it underscores how deeply contested the president’s emergency powers remain, particularly in immigration and national security matters.
While the full impact of the ruling remains to be seen, it is likely to spark additional litigation and pressure on the administration to review or reverse deportations carried out under the Alien Enemies Act framework.
