U.S. Judge Grants Venezuelan Deportees Legal Challenge Rights in El Salvador

U.S. District Judge James Boasberg ruled that Venezuelans deported to El Salvador under the 1798 Alien Enemies Act must be allowed to contest their detentions, highlighting due process violations by the Trump administration. The judge criticized the administration for deporting individuals without proper notice or opportunity to challenge their removals and ordered it to provide a plan within a week to facilitate legal challenges, known as habeas corpus petitions. The deportees, held in El Salvador's Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT), were accused of gang affiliations, but evidence suggests many have no gang ties, raising serious concerns about the validity of their detentions. The ruling follows a Supreme Court decision affirming detainees' rights to contest their removal despite upholding the use of the Alien Enemies Act. The Trump administration has faced criticism for invoking this 18th-century wartime law to bypass normal immigration procedures and paying El Salvador $6 million to hold the detainees. The case underscores tensions between executive authority in immigration enforcement and constitutional protections, with the White House disputing the judge's intervention on national security grounds.