Judge says US must help bring back some of the Venezuelans deported to
notorious prison
[February 13, 2026]
By SUDHIN THANAWALA
A federal judge on Thursday ordered the Trump administration to make
arrangements to allow some of the Venezuelan migrants deported to a
notorious prison in El Salvador to return to the U.S. at the
government's expense.
The case has been a legal flashpoint in the administration’s sweeping
immigration crackdown. It started in March after President Donald Trump
invoked the 18th century Alien Enemies Act to send Venezuelan migrants
accused of being gang members to a mega-prison known as the Terrorism
Confinement Center, or CECOT.
In Thursday's ruling, U.S. District Judge James Boasberg in Washington
criticized the White House’s response to his earlier order that it come
up with a plan to give the men a chance to challenge their removals.
“Apparently not interested in participating in this process, the
Government’s responses essentially told the Court to pound sand,”
Boasberg wrote. Nominated to the federal bench by President Barack
Obama, the judge has repeatedly clashed with the administration over the
deportations.
White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson blasted Boasberg’s ruling,
saying in a statement it was “an absurd, unlawful ruling from a far-left
judicial activist trying to undermine the President’s lawful authority
to carry about deportations.”
“Americans elected President Trump based on his promise to deport
criminal illegal aliens and Make America Safe Again,” she said. "Boasberg
has no right to stop the will of the American people, and this will not
be the final say on the matter.”
The 137 men were later returned to Venezuela in a prisoner exchange
brokered by the United States.
Lee Gelernt, their attorney in the U.S., said at a court hearing on
Monday that plaintiffs' attorneys are in touch with a handful of them
who have since managed to leave Venezuela and are now in a third
country. These men are interested in clearing their names, he said.
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Boasberg's order says U.S. officials must provide the men in third
countries who wish to fly back to U.S. with a boarding letter. The
government must also cover their airfare. He noted the men would be
detained upon their return.
Those men and the migrants who remain in Venezuela can also file new
legal documents arguing the presidential proclamation under which
they were deported illegally invoked the 18th century wartime law,
the judge ruled. The legal filings can also challenge their
designation as members of the Tren de Aragua gang.
Boasberg said he could decide later whether to require hearings and
how to conduct them, but it was up to the government to “remedy the
wrong that it perpetrated here and to provide a means for doing so.”
“Were it otherwise, the Government could simply remove people from
the United States without providing any process and then, once they
were in a foreign country, deny them any right to return for a
hearing or opportunity to present their case from abroad,” he wrote.
In March, Trump officials flew the Venezuelan men to the prison,
despite a verbal order from Boasberg for the aircraft to turn
around. Boasberg subsequently started a contempt investigation,
though the dramatic battle between the judicial and executive
branches has been paused by an appeals court.
The administration has denied violating his order.
Gelernt said in a statement on Thursday Boasberg had “begun the
process of giving these men their right to challenge their removal.”
"Remarkably, although the government does not dispute the men were
denied due process, it still was not willing to do what was right
without a court order,” he said.
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