Prison guards transfer deportees from the U.S., alleged to be Venezuelan gang members, to the Terrorism Confinement Center in Tecoluca, El Salvador, on March 16, 2025. (El Salvador presidential press office via AP)
Boasberg also ordered the Trump administration on Saturday to immediately halt any planned deportations and to notify their clients that "any plane containing these folks that is going to take off or is in the air needs to be returned to the United States," he said.
However, the decision apparently came too late to stop two planes filled with more than 200 migrants who were deported to El Salvador.
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White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told Fox News in an interview that a plane carrying hundreds of migrants, including more than 130 persons removed under the Alien Enemies Act, had already "left U.S. airspace" by the time the order was handed down.
US PAID EL SALVADOR TO TAKE VENEZUELAN TREN DE ARAGUA MEMBERS, WHITE HOUSE SAYS
James Boasberg (Valerie Plesch/Bloomberg via Getty)
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"To avoid any doubt, no one on any flight departing the United States after 7:25 PM EDT on March 15, 2025, was removed solely on the basis of the Proclamation at issue. ICE carefully tracks the TdA members who are amenable to removal proceedings. At this time approximately 54 members of TdA are in detention and on the detained docket, approximately 172 are on the non-detained docket, and approximately 32 are in criminal custody with active detainers against them. Should they be transferred to ICE custody, they will likely be placed in removal proceedings," he said.
Fox News’ David Spunt contributed to this report.
Greg Norman is a reporter at Fox News Digital.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/doj-insists-el-salvador-deportation-flights-did-not-violate-court-order