Alleged members of “foreign terrorist cartel” Tren de Aragua may be brought back to the US after their deportations in 2025, and it could come at taxpayers’ expense.
US District Judge James Boasberg, who has repeatedly butted heads with the Trump administration, ordered the Trump administration Thursday to facilitate the return of 137 migrants deported to a notorious prison in El Salvador, CECOT, in 2025.
Boasberg stipulated in his ruling that the government pay for the migrants’ airfare back to the US, meaning taxpayers are likely footing the bill.
Boasberg argued that it’s “unclear why Plaintiffs should bear the financial cost of their return in such an instance,” noting that “this situation would never have arisen had the Government simply afforded Plaintiffs their constitutional rights before initially deporting them.”
The ruling comes as part of a nearly year-long saga during which the federal judge attempted to halt the Trump administration’s deportation of migrants to El Salvador under the Alien Enemies Act in March 2025.
The Supreme Court ultimately allowed the Trump administration to continue using the Alien Enemies Act to carry out deportations in April but ordered that detainees receive notice and an opportunity to challenge allegations.
Boasberg has since been wading through legal avenues with the men in El Salvador, issuing a ruling in December that the Trump administration denied them due process.
It is unclear how many of the men will actually take the offer and return to the US, with Boasberg noting that the noncitizens “would be detained upon arrival” back to the US.
Similar to Boasberg’s ruling, another federal judge this month ordered the Trump administration to pay for the return of three migrant families the judge ruled ICE unlawfully deported by a 2023 humanitarian parole settlement. --->READ MORE HERE
A federal judge on Thursday ordered the Trump administration to facilitate the return of some of the Venezuelan men it sent to an El Salvador prison last year by invoking the Alien Enemies Act.
U.S. District Judge James Boasberg ruled the government must pay to fly back or accept at a port of entry any of the men who are now in countries other than Venezuela. Upon arrival in the U.S., they will be detained as they fight accusations they are Tren de Aragua gang members.
The judge previously ruled the government violated the due process rights of the 137 Venezuelan men, and they were entitled to a hearing. But Boasberg had left the door open for a legal process that didn’t entail their physical return.
“Apparently not interested in participating in this process, the Government’s responses essentially told the Court to pound sand,” Boasberg wrote in his new decision.
Boasberg has sparred with the Justice Department ever since he ordered the March flights to turn around. President Trump responded by demanding the judge’s impeachment, while Boasberg has long pushed to hold the administration in contempt.
“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,” Boasberg wrote.
His order demands the government submit a list within 15 days of people who wish to return to the U.S. Two weeks later, the government must send him an update explaining how and when it will transport them.
“Nothing has changed; in addition to being in our country illegally, these aliens are foreign terrorists designated as alien enemies by the President. They were removed under the proper legal authorities,” Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement. --->READ MORE HERE
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