A federal judge Monday ordered the U.S. Justice Department to provide a sworn declaration by noon ET Tuesday with details on how planeloads of alleged members of Tren de Aragua were deported despite his order to turn the planes around.
The hearing on Monday centered on whether the government complied with Judge James Boasberg's temporary restraining order, and it included a debate about when exactly the order was issued and where U.S. custody over deportees ends. Also discussed: whether an oral order versus a written order holds the same weight when it comes to restraining government action.
It came after Boasberg's emergency order Saturday that told the administration to stop using wartime powers to immediately deport people it said were part of the Tren de Aragua gang, and turn around any planes already in the air. Senior Justice Department officials in a filing on Sunday argued that the order came too late to stop the deportations, as planes were already outside U.S. territory.
The American Civil Liberties Union and Democracy Forward had sought to block the deportations of five Venezuelan men for 14 days and later broadened the request to all people who could be deported under Trump's Alien Enemies Act proclamation concerning Tren de Aragua.
