The White House said Sunday that illegal aliens who are suspected members of Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua (TdA) had already been removed from U.S. territory when a federal judge in Washington, DC, issued a ruling to block the deportations.
Chief Judge James Boasberg of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia issued a ruling Saturday night to block the deportations of the suspected illegal alien gang members by the Trump administration after the president invoked the 1798 Alien Enemies Act. However, Salvadorian President Nayib Bukele announced Sunday morning that 238 suspected TdA members and 23 suspected MS-13 members had arrived in El Salvador.
In a statement to Breitbart News, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the administration did not “‘refuse to comply’” with the order, which she said carries “no lawful basis.”
“The Administration did not ‘refuse to comply’ with a court order. The order, which had no lawful basis, was issued after terrorist TdA aliens had already been removed from U.S. territory. The written order and the Administration’s actions do not conflict,” she said.
“Moreover, as the Supreme Court has repeatedly made clear — federal courts generally have no jurisdiction over the President’s conduct of foreign affairs, his authorities under the Alien Enemies Act, and his core Article II powers to remove foreign alien terrorists from U.S. soil and repel a declared invasion,” she continued. “A single judge in a single city cannot direct the movements of an aircraft carrier full of foreign alien terrorists who were physically expelled from U.S. soil.”
Boasberg ruled that “any plane” containing suspected TdA members that planned “to take off” or already had needed “to be returned to the United States however that is accomplished,” Politico reported.
In a post on X sharing a news report on Boasberg’s order, Bukele wrote, “Oopsie… Too late,” accompanied by a laughing emoji.
Bukele said in another post that the 238 suspected TdA members were immediately being “transferred to CECOT, the Terrorism Confinement Center, for a period of one year,” adding it is renewable.
“The United States will pay a very low fee for them, but a high one for us,” he added.
In a Truth Social post on Sunday afternoon, Trump thanked Bukele.
“Thank you to El Salvador and, in particular, President Bukele, for your understanding of this horrible situation, which was allowed to happen to the United States because of incompetent Democrat leadership. We will not forget!” he wrote.
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