Salvadoran police officers escort alleged members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua 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 Tecoluca, El Salvador, in this handout image obtained March 16, 2025. Secretaria de Prensa de la Presidencia/Handout via REUTERS/File Photo
President Donald Trump's administration faces a deadline on Tuesday to explain to a judge why its deportation flights carrying Venezuelan migrantsdid not violate a judicial order to halt such removals, a day after it argued that any disclosure of further details would jeopardize U.S. national security.
Washington-based U.S. District Judge James Boasberg last week instructed Justice Department lawyers to give him a justification for the administration's failure to return two plane loads of alleged Venezuelan gang members deported to El Salvador on March 15 despite his order blocking such deportations for two weeks.The administration has said the flights were carried out under a little-used 18th-century law.
