President Donald Trump was accused of defying a court order as he flew more than 200 alleged ‘Venezuelan gang members’ to CECOT, a notoriously violent ‘mega-prison’ in El Salvador.
US District Judge James E. Boasberg temporarily halted the deportations on Saturday (March 15), but the Trump administration informed him that they were already airborne – and so he verbally instructed for them to be turned around.
They were not, and El Salvador’s President, Nayib Bukele, even goaded the Californian judge on Twitter by reacting to a post about Trump disobeying court orders. Writing: “Oopsie…Too late.”
US deportees arrive at CECOT, one of the world’s toughest prisons, located in El Salvador (Salvadoran Government via Getty Images)
However, White House secretary Karoline Leavitt issued a statement to say that Trump and his administration ‘did not refuse to comply with a court order’.
Now, senior Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) official Robert Cerna has admitted in a court filing that ‘many’ of the people who were deported have no previous convictions.
“[A] lack of specific information about each individual actually highlights the risk they pose,” claimed the acting field office director.
“It demonstrates that they are terrorists with regard to whom we lack a complete profile.”
US President Donald Trump and President Nayib Bukele of El Salvador, pictured in 2019 (SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images)
The order to deport the alleged criminals came after Trump attempted to force them through via a wartime declaration designed in the 18th century that would assist in deporting the alleged gang members.
While Cerna’s court filing called on Boasberg to reverse his initial ruling.
Meanwhile, President of Venezuela Nicolás Maduro has denounced the Trump administration’s decision.
On Sunday (March 16), he called out the ‘threat of kidnapping’ Venezuelan teens as young as 14 by labeling them as terrorists, claiming they have been ‘considered criminals simply for being Venezuelan’.
Posting on social media about his new arrivals, Bukele wrote in part: “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).
“The United States will pay a very low fee for them, but a high one for us.
“Over time, these actions, combined with the production already being generated by more than 40,000 inmates engaged in various workshops and labor under the Zero Idleness program, will help make our prison system self-sustainable. As of today, it costs $200 million per year.”
Dozens of immigrants have landed inside the world’s ‘worst prison’ as the US President defies judges orders.
As many as 250 alleged criminals have been deported to the infamous El Salvador mega-jail as President Donald Trump pressed for the controversial move.
The mass deportation was carried out under a rare 18th-century wartime legislation, the Alien Enemies Act of 1798.
The El Salvador president shared footage of the migrants arriving at the facility (Twitter/@nayibbukele)
The relatively unknown law was last used in the US to justify internment camps for Japanese, German and Italian citizens during the Second World War.
However, Trump has had his eye on revoking it to fuel mass deportations of non-US ctizens who have been accused of being in gangs or committing crimes without any court proceedings taking place.
According to an executive order, signed by the POTUS within hours of taking over the White House, the US is under an ‘invasion’ of immigrants linked to organized crime.
The Trump administration denied any wrongdoing in the move (El Salvador Presidency / Handout/Anadolu via Getty Images)
It appears the cohort of migrants shipped to the maximum-security Counter-Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT) was carried out under this rule and after Secretary of State Marco Rubio agreed a deal with El Salvador President Nayib Bukele.
Bukele who is passionate about cracking down on gang violence in the Central American country and shared images and videos of the accused handcuffed criminals landing and being escorted from the jet to the prison.
Taking to Twitter, he claimed hundreds of the arrivals formed the Venezuelan criminal organization, Tren de Aragua.
The US President called them ‘monsters’ (El Salvador Presidency / Handout/Anadolu via Getty Images)
“The United States will pay a very low fee for them, but a high one for us,” he wrote. “Over time, these actions, combined with the production already being generated by more than 40,000 inmates engaged in various workshops and labor under the Zero Idleness program, will help make our prison system self-sustainable. As of today, it costs $200 million per year.”
Bukele also claimed the US sent 23 MS-13 members ‘wanted by Salvadoran justice, including two ringleaders’, taking the total number to more than 250.
A federal judge tried to block the move (El Salvador Presidency / Handout/Anadolu via Getty Images)
“One of them is a member of the criminal organization’s highest structure,” he added. “This will help us finalize intelligence gathering and go after the last remnants of MS-13, including its former and new members, money, weapons, drugs, hideouts, collaborators, and sponsors.”
The president signed off by saying the country, in collaboration with the US will continue ‘advancing in the fight against organized crime’ while making its prison ‘self-sustainable.’
“May God bless El Salvador, and may God bless the United States,” he concluded.
Trump also celebrated the move, taking to Truth Social to call the deportees ‘monsters’ who had been permitted entry into the US under Joe Biden and the Democrats.
Inmates in the Counter-Terrorism Confinement Center mega-prison (Marvin RECINOS / AFP) (Photo by MARVIN RECINOS/AFP via Getty Images)
“These are monsters sent into our Country by Crooked Joe Biden and the Radical Left Democrats,” he said. “How dare they!”
“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 Democrat leadership. We will not forget,” Trump added.
A federal judge tried to block the order by ruling against the deportation while the flight was already airborne, according to VT.
The Trump administration claimed it had acted lawfully with the move.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said: “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 US soil,” per Sky News.
