US defies court order, deports over 200 Venezuelans to El Salvador

Washington [US], March 17: A plane carrying more than 200 Venezuelans deported by the United States has landed in El Salvador, in apparent defiance of a US judge's order blocking the administration of President Donald Trump from carrying out such expulsions.
On Sunday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio shared a video on the X platform, originally posted by El Salvador's President Nayib Bukele, showing the arrival of 238 alleged members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua under heavy security.
Furthermore, Rubio said a total of 23 members, including two top leaders, of the Mexican gang MS-13 were also sent "to face justice in El Salvador."
The plane arrived in El Salvador hours after a federal judge in Washington had temporarily blocked Trump's attempt to use a centuries-old wartime law, the Alien Enemies Act from 1798, to deport the suspected gang members.
The ruling called the legal justification into question, US media reported.
Trump invoked the law - last used during World War II - arguing the gang was waging "irregular warfare" against the US under the direction of Venezuela's authoritarian leader Nicolas Maduro.
The law allows the president to bypass normal immigration procedures to detain or deport foreign nationals from hostile nations, but typically requires the US to be at war or facing an "invasion or predatory attack." It remains unclear whether those deported were Venezuelans removed under the Alien Enemies Act. The Trump administration has appealed the judge's decision.
The New York Times quoted an attorney for the civil rights organization ACLU, which had filed a lawsuit against Trump's order, as saying that he believed that two planes were already on their way on Saturday evening.
The move by the US to send alleged criminals from other countries to El Salvador was an arrangement Rubio previously called "the most unprecedented and extraordinary migratory agreement anywhere in the world".
Bukele wrote that the detainees were immediately transferred to El Salvador's Terrorism Confinement Center (Cecot) "for a period of one year", something that was "renewable" - suggesting they could be held there for longer.
"The United States will pay a very low fee for them, but a high one for us," he added.
Rubio confirmed the alleged gang members arrival in El Salvador and thanked Bukele, calling him "the strongest security leader in our region".
Hours before, on Saturday evening, US District Judge James Boasberg ordered a halt to deportations covered by Trump's proclamation, which invoked the Alien Enemies Act of 1798. The law allows the government to detain and deport people threatening the country's safety without due process.
Source: Qatar Tribune