Judge orders return of Venezuelans citing ‘flagrancy’ of due process violations

U.S. District Judge James Boasberg has ordered the Trump administration to facilitate the return of the Venezuelan migrants who were deported to El Salvador’s CECOT prison last year in violation of a court order.

Boasberg on Thursday criticized the administration’s refusal to offer remedies for the deportees for what he called the “flagrancy” of government’s due-process violations.

“Our starting point is the Court’s prior finding that the deportees were denied due process,” Boasberg wrote. “Against this backdrop, and mindful of the flagrancy of the Government’s violations of the deportees’ due-process rights that landed Plaintiffs in this situation, the Court refuses to let them languish in the solution-less mire Defendants propose.”

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The judge’s order requires the government to provide “boarding letters” and cover the financial cost of air travel for the Venezuelans currently in third countries who “so desire” to return to the U.S.

The Trump administration last March invoked the Alien Enemies Act — an 18th century wartime authority used to remove noncitizens with little-to-no due process — to deport two planeloads of alleged migrant gang members to the CECOT mega-prison in El Salvador by arguing that the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua is a “hybrid criminal state” that is invading the United States.

Judge Boasberg issued a temporary restraining order and ordered that the planes be turned around, but Justice Department attorneys said his oral instructions directing the flight to be returned were defective, and the deportations proceeded as planned.

Boasberg subsequently sought contempt proceedings against the government for deliberately defying his order.

The deported Venezuelans were released from CECOT and sent to Venezuela as part of a prison swap over the summer.

While Boasberg’s Thursday order directed the government to facilitate and fund the return of the Venezuelan deportees currently in third countries, he stopped short of extending the order to those in Venezuela due to sensitive “foreign affairs” concerns.

The government is required to file a status report by March 13 explaining how and when it will transport the Venezuelans seeking to return to the U.S. from a third country, Boasberg said. For the men in Venezuela, the government is being ordered to “inform the Court as to the feasibility of returning Plaintiffs still in Venezuela who wish to return for their proceedings.”

Boasberg said the government has a duty to “remedy the wrong that it perpetrated.”

“It is worth emphasizing that this situation would never have arisen had the Government simply afforded Plaintiffs their constitutional rights before initially deporting them,” he wrote.

In his ruling, Boasberg said that any individuals who are flown back or paroled into the country could be taken into government custody for the duration of their proceedings and could be subject to re-deportation.

The ruling also allows the Venezuelans to file habeas pleadings from abroad to challenge the designation of the Alien Enemies Act used to remove them or to prove they are not members o. Tren de Aragua.