The Trump administration advanced significantly towards a potential constitutional clash with the judicial branch when aircraft filled with Venezuelan detainees arrived in El Salvador, defying a federal judge’s directive for the planes to turn back and bring the detainees back to the United States.
Nayib Bukele, the right-wing president of El Salvador, boasted that 238 detainees aboard the planes were moved to a Salvadoran “Terrorism Confinement Center,” where they would remain for at least a year.
“Oopsie … Too late,” Mr. Bukele posted on social media Sunday morning, a message highlighted by White House communications director Steven Cheung.
Around the same time, Secretary of State Marco Rubio expressed gratitude to Mr. Bukele for a lengthy post regarding the migrants’ detention.
“This sure looks like contempt of court to me,” stated David Super, a law professor at Georgetown University. “You can turn around a plane if you want to.”
Details concerning the government’s actions were still murky, particularly regarding the time of the planes’ arrival. In an afternoon filing, the Trump administration asserted that the State Department and Homeland Security were “promptly notified” of the judge’s written order after it was posted on the electronic docket at 7:26 p.m. Eastern time on Saturday. The filing suggested the government might claim different legal authority for deporting the Venezuelans than that halted by the judge, potentially allowing them to remain in El Salvador while the order is challenged.
The administration clarified that the five plaintiffs who had sued to prevent their deportations — which led to the judge’s order — had not been expelled.
By Sunday, legal experts were piecing together the timeline to ascertain the whereabouts of the planes shortly before 7 p.m. Eastern time on Saturday and determine how close the Trump administration is to openly disregarding the Constitution’s checks and balances.
This incident coincided with Judge James E. Boasberg of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia ordering the Trump administration to discontinue its use of a little-known wartime law, the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, as justification for expelling migrants, and to promptly return anyone dispatched under the act back to the U.S.
Regardless of the timing, Judge Boasberg’s order seemed to have been ignored by the Trump administration, which proceeded to hand over the Venezuelans to El Salvador for detention. In promoting the event, Mr. Rubio failed to mention Judge Boasberg’s directive. Saturday, the judge had instructed the government to repatriate anyone removed under the Alien Enemies Act to U.S. territory, “however that’s accomplished — whether turning around the plane or not.”
Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt released a statement on Sunday refuting allegations that the administration had disobeyed the order, questioning the judge’s jurisdiction to issue it.
In a 25-page appeal on Sunday, Justice Department lawyers deemed Judge Boasberg’s order — imposed by a judge nominated by President Barack Obama — a “massive, unauthorized incursion on the Executive’s authority.” They contended that Mr. Trump’s actions “are not subject to judicial scrutiny” due to what they described as the presidency’s inherent constitutional powers over national security and foreign policy matters, and argued that the federal courts lacked jurisdiction over his exercise of “war power.”
Federal judges have been in ongoing conflict with the Trump administration over numerous executive actions that the courts have attempted to suspend temporarily while their legality is scrutinized. In some instances, plaintiffs who succeeded in their lawsuits against the administration returned to court claiming that the administration was not abiding by favorable judicial orders.
On Friday, a kidney transplant specialist and professor at Brown University’s medical school was expelled from the United States, despite a court halting her expulsion, as per her attorney and federal court records.
However, the mockery by Mr. Bukele — along with the implicit support it received from high-level administration officials — appeared to draw closer a constitutional crisis, according to critics of the administration on Sunday.
“Court order defied,” remarked Mark S. Zaid, a Washington lawyer embroiled in legal disputes with the administration, on social media, proclaiming that the events on Saturday and Sunday marked the “beginning of true constitutional crisis.”
Other experts voiced concerns but adopted a more measured stance.
“We require additional developments of the facts,” stated Adam Winkler, a professor at the University of California, Los Angeles. “If reports about timing are accurate, it appears the administration has disregarded a binding court order. Should that be the case, then the courts must act promptly to sanction the Trump administration. The executive branch cannot disregard the directives of the judicial branch.”
On Saturday, the Trump administration invoked the Alien Enemies Act to swiftly deport any Venezuelan citizen aged 14 or older whom it claims is affiliated with Tren de Aragua, a violent criminal organization designated a foreign terrorist entity in February. The White House labeled the gang a “hybrid criminal state” that is “perpetuating an invasion” of the United States, justifying the invocation of the 1798 law, which has only been used three times prior — during the War of 1812, World War I, and World War II.
Earlier that day, anticipating this action, five Venezuelans in federal custody initiated a class-action lawsuit, contending that their deportation under this rationale would breach federal law and the Constitution’s due process clause. Judge Boasberg subsequently issued a restraining order preventing their expulsion.
During a hearing on Saturday afternoon, lawyers for the plaintiffs informed the judge that two planes carrying additional Venezuelans deported under the Alien Enemies Act were “in the air.” Shortly before 7 p.m., Judge Boasberg directed the government to redirect the planes and return the detainees. He further issued a written order forbidding the government from deporting any suspected Tren De Aragua affiliates under the Alien Enemies Act.
The flights to El Salvador represented the second occasion in quick succession in which the administration faced accusations of deporting someone in violation of a court order. The legal team for Dr. Rasha Alawieh, a specialist in kidney transplant patients and a professor at Brown University, stated she was deported on Friday in defiance of a court order from Judge Leo T. Sorokin of the Federal District Court in Massachusetts. On Sunday, Judge Sorokin imposed a deadline for the government to respond by Monday regarding allegations that it had “willfully defied” his order.
Skye Perryman, CEO of Democracy Forward, an organization that has facilitated numerous lawsuits against the Trump administration, expressed her expectation that the government would adhere to court mandates.
“We will persist in navigating the courts to ensure that orders are executed appropriately and — if not — that accountability is enforced against the government,” she stated in a Sunday announcement.
The White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, claimed on Friday that court orders obstructing Mr. Trump’s measures were “unconstitutional and unjust.” This sparked speculation, fueled by remarks made by Mr. Trump and Vice President JD Vance on social media, that the White House might overtly defy the judiciary, which the Constitution regards as a co-equal branch of government with the executive.
Mr. Super, the Georgetown law professor, stated that the Justice Department’s rationale for deferring to the president’s authority in foreign policy may be taken into account by an appellate court when evaluating whether to uphold Judge Boasberg’s order, but it does not excuse the violation of the order.
“You must adhere to court orders until they are overturned,” he emphasized. “Otherwise, you and I become our own courts. We enforce what we believe is right and ignore what we think is wrong, and the judges may as well close up shop.”
Tim Balk, Alan Feuer, Charlie Savage, Maggie Haberman, Devlin Barrett, Annie Correal, and Dana Goldstein contributed reporting. Seamus Hughes contributed research.
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