Judge orders Trump administration to facilitate return of some Venezuelan migrants deported under Alien Enemies Act
CBSN
Washington — A federal judge on Thursday ordered the Trump administration to facilitate the return of Venezuelan migrants who he found were unlawfully deported to a Salvadoran prison under the Alien Enemies Act last year and then released into other countries.
Washington — A federal judge on Thursday ordered the Trump administration to facilitate the return of Venezuelan migrants who he found were unlawfully deported to a Salvadoran prison under the Alien Enemies Act last year and then released into other countries.
U.S. District Judge James Boasberg said in a brief opinion that the number of Venezuelans who would likely want to be returned to the U.S. to continue challenging their detentions and removals is small, and acknowledged that they will be taken into immigration custody upon their arrival.
Still, he gave lawyers for the Venezuelan men until Feb. 27 to inform him of the number of plaintiffs who want to travel on their own to a U.S. port of entry or wish to be flown from a third country to the U.S. for court proceedings.
"These men suffered brutal abuse and torture because the Trump administration treated due process as optional," Lee Gelernt, a lawyer with the ACLU who is representing the migrants, told CBS News. "The Court rightly has grown frustrated with the administration's stalling tactics and has now taken the critical first step to provide these men with a chance to present their cases."
Boasberg's decision stems from a December ruling that the Trump administration had denied due process to a class of 137 Venezuelans who were deported to El Salvador last March under the Alien Enemies Act, a wartime law invoked by President Trump to summarily remove Venezuelans who were accused of being members of the gang Tren de Aragua.
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