As of Saturday morning, the White House had not immediately responded to a request from Reuters for comment. When President Trump was asked on Friday about the planned deportations of the Venezuelan men, he claimed he was unfamiliar with the particular case, but said that “if they’re bad people,” he would “certainly authorize it.”
The Trump administration—including the president, Homeland Security Advisor Stephen Miller, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, and other immigration officials—have in the few months since taking office rolled out a coordinated onslaught against immigrants, both documented and not, across the country. This comes after Trump, when running for office, referred to immigrants as “animals” and said that they are “poisoning the blood of our country.”
In March, more than 130 men whom the Trump administration claimed were Tren de Aragua members were deported to El Salvador. Family members and lawyers for the men have said they were singled out because of tattoos that they have, but an expert on the gang told NBC that tattoos are not closely connected with affiliation to Tren de Aragua and that “Venezuelan gangs are not identified by tattoos.” (Immigration officials have maintained that they did not solely rely on tattoos to identify the deportees as alleged gang members.)
In early April, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the Trump administration’s use of the 1798 law, with certain limits. The justices, in a 5-4 decision, said that detainees must receive notice that they are subject to removal and be given enough time to seek what due process is granted to them. The latter requirement is what the ACLU is claiming the Trump administration failed to do.
It’s unclear if the president and those in control of immigration enforcement within his administration will follow the Supreme Court ruling.
The administration has so far failed to comply with another directive from the court to facilitate the return of Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran immigrant living in Maryland who was illegally deported to El Salvador’s high-security mega prison known as the Terrorism Confinement Center, or CECOT.
The case of Abrego Garcia, who is married to a US citizen, has resulted in an ongoing legal battle involving the Trump administration, local and national courts, Democratic US Senator Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, and the president of El Salvador, Nayib Bukele.
As of Saturday, Abrego Garcia was reportedly moved from CECOT to a detention center hours away. It’s still unclear if or when he will be returned to his family in Maryland, despite the Supreme Court’s directive.
