The Trump administration moved quickly to deport approximately 250 Venezuelan nationals it accused of gang affiliation, seeking to avoid a federal judge's order to halt the action, Axios reported on Monday.
The sprawling piece, which cites two senior administration officials, reveals that the planes filled with alleged members of the "Tren de Aragua" gang were already over international waters when the court order was issued, leading officials to argue that the ruling did not apply because the deportation flights had left U.S. airspace before the order was issued.
"They were already outside of U.S. airspace. We believe the order is not applicable," one official said told Axios. "We are not actively defying court orders," another one emphasized.
U.S. District Judge James Boasberg issued a verbal order on Saturday afternoon to stop the deportations and instructed that any planes in flight should be turned around. However, this directive was not included in his written ruling, a distinction that has become central to the administration's defense.
As the judge was speaking, the flights were already off the Yucatan Peninsula, according to flight tracking data.
The deportations were authorized under the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, a rarely used wartime law that grants the president broad powers to remove noncitizens deemed dangerous during times of war.
The Trump administration argued that the law was applicable citing what they call an "invasion" by criminal migrants. "This is a time of war," Trump said when asked about the move, defending the deportations and calling the individuals "bad people."
The administration's decision to invoke the Alien Enemies Act came late Friday, but the order was not publicly announced then, allowing time for deportation efforts to begin before legal challenges could mount. White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem coordinated the operation, according to Axios.
"We wanted them on the ground first, before a judge could get the case, but this is how it worked out," one official explained.
Critics argue the administration ignored the spirit of the court's order. Georgetown law professor Steve Vladeck told the outlet that "this just incentivizes future courts to be hyper specific in their orders." Nonetheless, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt later asserted that no lawful order was defied, stating, "The written order and the Administration's actions do not conflict."
Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele, who accepted the deportees, responded on X with a post reading, "Oopsie ... too late," alongside footage of shackled men arriving in El Salvador. The video showed the men being taken to the CECOT prison facility under heavy security:
Today, the first 238 members of the Venezuelan criminal organization, Tren de Aragua, arrived in our country. They were immediately transferred to CECOT, the Terrorism Confinement Center, for a period of one year (renewable).
— Nayib Bukele (@nayibbukele) March 16, 2025
The United States will pay a very low fee for them,… pic.twitter.com/tfsi8cgpD6
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