Trump appeals ruling that Venezuelans deported to El Salvador may challenge detention
FILE PHOTO: Venezuelan migrants react after arriving on a deportation flight from the United States at Simon Bolivar International Airport, in Maiquetia, Venezuela May 9, 2025. REUTERS/Leonardo Fernandez Viloria/File photo
NEW YORK - The Trump administration on Tuesday appealed a judge's ruling last week that hundreds of Venezuelans who were deported to El Salvador under an 18th century wartime law must be given the chance to challenge their detentions.
Washington-based U.S. District Judge James Boasberg on June 4 also ruled that the Trump administration must facilitate their legal challenges, though he stopped short of expressly ordering the government to bring the Venezuelan migrants currently being held at a mega-prison in El Salvador back to the U.S.
Boasberg gave the government one week to detail how it would facilitate the deportees' challenges, known as habeas corpus petitions.
The Venezuelans were deported in March after President Donald Trump, a Republican, invoked the 1798 Alien Enemies Act to swiftly deport alleged members of the Tren de Aragua gang without going through normal immigration procedures. REUTERS
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