Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem ordered hundreds of Venezuelans who were expelled from the United States in March to be transferred to El Salvador, even though a federal judge ordered the deportation planes to turn around. according to a new court filing filed by Trump administration lawyers.
In the filing Tuesday night, the Justice Department said DOJ and DHS officials conveyed their legal advice to Noem. after U.S. District Judge James Boasberg gave first an oral directive and then a written order seeking to block deportations under the Alien Enemies Act.
“After receiving that legal advice, Secretary Noem ordered that AEA detainees who had been removed from the United States prior to the Court’s order could be transferred to the custody of El Salvador,” the DOJ said Tuesday.
Minister of Justice and Public Security, Héctor Villatoro (R), accompanies Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, Kristi Noem, second from (R), during a tour of the Terrorist Confinement Center (CECOT) on March 26, 2025 in Tecoluca, El Salvador. (Photo by Alex Brandon-Pool/Getty Images)
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That legal advice was provided to Joseph Mazzara, DHS acting general counsel, by Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche and former top Justice Department official Emil Bove, who then passed it on to Noem, according to the filing.
The presentation occurs after the judge. Boasberg said last week that he is moving forward with his contempt investigation to determine whether Trump administration officials violated his March court order.
In March, The Trump administration invoked the AEA (an 18th century wartime authority used to deport non-citizens with little or no due process) to deport two planeloads of suspected migrant gang members to the CECOT megaprison in El Salvador, arguing that the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua is a “hybrid criminal state” that is invading the United States.
At a court hearing on March 15, Boasberg issued a temporary restraining order and ordered that the planes carrying the detainees be returned, but Justice Department lawyers said his oral instructions ordering the flight to return were flawed and the deportations proceeded as planned.
More than 250 suspected gang members arrive in El Salvador by plane, including 238 members of Venezuela’s Tren de Aragua gang and 23 members of the MS-13 gang, who were deported to El Salvador by the United States in San Salvador, El Salvador, on March 16, 2025. El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele confirmed that they will be sent to the country’s infamous megaprison at the CECOP center prison. San Salvador forces took strong security measures.
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On Tuesday, the DOJ said the legal advice provided to Noem “did not violate the court’s order much less constitute contempt.”
“Specifically, the Court’s written order was not intended to require the return of detainees who had already been removed, and the previous oral directive was not a binding court order, especially after the written order,” the DOJ said.
Boasberg’s earlier conclusion that the Trump administration likely acted in contempt was halted for months after an appeals court issued an emergency stay. While a federal appeals court on Friday refused to refund Under Boasberg’s original order, the ruling allows him to move forward with his fact-finding investigation.
