Judge Requires Trump Admin to Provide Due Process for Deportees in El Salvador Prison

The administration had argued the judge lacked authority to rule on the case.

U.S. District Judge James Boasberg, chief judge of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, stands for a portrait at E. Barrett Prettyman Federal Courthouse in Washington on March 16, 2023. Carolyn Van Houten/The Washington Post via AP

U.S. District Judge James Boasberg has ordered the Trump administration to provide a form of due process known as habeas relief for individuals it deported and who are currently being held in a Salvadoran maximum security prison.

In an order issued on June 4, Boasberg said these individuals were removed in March without any meaningful opportunity to seek writs of habeas corpus, which is a method for individuals to challenge their detention. He said that while his order may involve “delicate questions relating to diplomacy and national security,” the government would need to propose ways of providing due process to the prisoners.