The Trump administration faces a critical deadline at midday on Tuesday to disclose details regarding planeloads of Venezuelans it deported, despite a judge’s temporary injunction against their removal.
By noon Eastern Time (1600 GMT), attorneys from the U.S. Justice Department must respond to inquiries from U.S. District Judge James Boasberg concerning the flights to El Salvador and the legal justification President Donald Trump invoked under a 1798 statute to carry out the deportations.
Trump’s legal team has challenged the court’s jurisdiction over the matter, escalating concerns that the former president is once again testing the limits of executive power, potentially setting the stage for a constitutional confrontation with the judiciary. Meanwhile, the Justice Department moved on Monday to have Boasberg removed from the case.
Citing national security concerns, government officials have indicated that at least some of their responses to the judge’s questions may remain confidential. The controversy erupted after Trump issued a proclamation on Saturday invoking the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, claiming that the Venezuelan prison gang Tren de Aragua was waging irregular warfare against the United States. The administration asserted that those being deported were members of the gang and began expelling them late Saturday night, prior to the judge’s order to halt all removals or return any flights already in progress.
Tren de Aragua is a notorious criminal network involved in human trafficking across South America. However, despite Trump’s assertion that the group was infiltrating the U.S., little concrete evidence has surfaced to support the claim of a large-scale presence in the country.
Judge Boasberg has requested specific details from government lawyers, including the exact timing of Trump’s proclamation, when it took effect, how many individuals were detained under its authority, and assurances that no one was deported solely based on the order. He is also seeking clarity on the timing of the flights.
According to a Reuters timeline, Boasberg verbally ruled between 6:45 p.m. and 6:48 p.m. Eastern Time that “any plane containing these folks…needs to be returned to the United States.” At that moment, two of the three flights were already airborne. A third flight departed at 7:37 p.m., 12 minutes after the judge’s written order was issued. The Trump administration contends that this final flight carried deportees processed under other immigration laws and was not subject to the ruling.
Regardless, all three flights, each stopping in Honduras before continuing to El Salvador, landed late Saturday night or early Sunday morning Eastern Time—hours after Boasberg’s oral and written rulings.
In response to the judge’s request for information—some of which was publicly available via flight-tracking websites—Justice Department attorney Abhishek Kambli pushed back, citing "significant operational national security and foreign relations concerns."
Meanwhile, relatives of those deported remain desperate for answers regarding their loved ones’ fate. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), which secured the two-week suspension of deportations through Boasberg’s order, is also demanding further details on who was removed and under what legal authority.
ACLU attorney Lee Gelernt questioned whether the Trump administration’s apparent defiance could lead to a constitutional crisis and expressed skepticism over claims that those deported were gang members.
"This administration has a track record of exaggerating the threat posed by individuals they have detained," Gelernt remarked.