Boasberg Orders Federal Government to Facilitate Hearings, Possibly Return Deportees

Trump had invoked the Alien Enemies Act to deport suspected members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua.

U.S. military personnel escort alleged members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua and the MS-13 gang recently deported by the U.S. government to be imprisoned in the Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT) prison, as part of an agreement with the Salvadoran government, in San Luis Talpa, El Salvador, on March 30, 2025. Secretaria de Prensa de la Presidencia/Handout via Reuters

U.S. District Judge James Boasberg has ordered the Trump administration to facilitate hearings for more than 100 individuals in Venezuela, holding that they were deported without due process earlier this year.

In an opinion on Dec. 22, Boasberg gave the administration two weeks to provide a proposal for facilitating the return of those individuals but said the government could “theoretically” provide hearings without returning them.