Judge says US should help return some Venezuelans deported to El Salvador prison

A federal judge on Thursday ordered the Trump administration to make arrangements to allow some Venezuelan migrants deported to a notorious prison in El Salvador to return to the United States at the government’s expense.

The case has been a legal flashpoint in the administration’s sweeping anti-immigration campaign. It began in March after President Donald Trump invoked the 18th-century Alien Enemies Act to send Venezuelan immigrants accused of gang membership to a massive prison known as the Center for Terrorism Confinement, or CECOT.

He watches: Former Venezuelan detainees speak out about abuses in El Salvador’s massive prison

In Thursday’s ruling, U.S. District Judge James Bosberg in Washington criticized the White House’s response to his earlier order to come up with a plan to give the men a chance to appeal their deportation.

“The government’s responses were clearly not interested in participating in this process, asking the court to pound the sand,” Boasberg wrote. The judge, who was nominated to the federal bench by President Barack Obama, has repeatedly clashed with the administration over deportations.

White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson criticized Bosberg’s ruling, saying in a statement that it was “an absurd and illegal ruling from a far-left judicial activist who is trying to undermine the president’s legal authority to carry out deportations.”

“Americans elected President Trump on his promise to deport criminal illegal aliens and make America safe again,” she said. He added, “Boasberg has no right to stop the will of the American people, and this will not be the final say on this matter.”

The 137 men were later returned to Venezuela in a prisoner exchange brokered by the United States.

The plaintiffs’ lawyers are in contact with a few of them who have since been able to leave Venezuela and are now in a third country, their U.S. lawyer, Lee Gelernt, said at a court hearing on Monday. These men are interested in clearing their names, he said.

Boasberg’s order stipulates that U.S. officials must provide men in third countries who wish to return to the United States with a boarding letter. The government must also cover their travel costs. He indicated that the men would be detained upon their return.

The judge ruled that these men and migrants who remained in Venezuela could also file new legal documents arguing that the presidential declaration under which they were illegally deported was based on a law of war dating back to the 18th century. Legal filings could also challenge their classification as members of the Tren de Aragua gang.

Boasberg said he could decide later whether to request hearings and how to conduct them, but it would be up to the government to “address the mistake it made here and provide a way to do that.”

“If it were otherwise, the government could simply remove people from the United States without filing any process, and then, once they are in a foreign country, deny them any right to return for a hearing or opportunity to present their case from abroad,” he wrote.

In March, Trump officials transferred the Venezuelan men to prison, despite Boasberg’s verbal order for the plane to return. Boasberg subsequently launched a contempt of court investigation, although the dramatic battle between the judiciary and the executive was temporarily halted by the Court of Appeal.

The administration denied violating his order.

Gelernt said in a statement Thursday that Boasberg “has begun the process of granting these men their right to appeal their dismissal.”

“It is striking that although the government does not dispute denying the men due process, it remains unwilling to do what is right without a court order,” he said.