March 2025 American deportations of Venezuelans

In March 2025, the United States deported 137 Venezuelans to El Salvador, to be immediately and indefinitely imprisoned without trial and without prison sentences nor release dates. They were detained at the notorious maximum security Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT), a prison with human rights concerns, as part of an agreement to jail U.S. deportees there in exchange for money. They were not given due process such as fair trials, and thus have no orders or sentencing for either the deportations themselves or the imprisonment immediately on arrival. Many deportees have no criminal charges, records, nor convictions in either country. The second Trump administration alleges that the deportees are gang members, but often without any solid evidence, and consequently, innocent individuals have been deported and imprisoned without any fixed term, including instances in which the deportation itself was admitted to be a mistake. The administration is doubling down on its actions and refuses to acknowledge or rectify any issues. Although the deportations themselves were well-publicized afterward, the U.S. did not publish the Venezuelans' names, nor did it acknowledge the fate and whereabouts of individuals to the public, their families, or their legal representation. Their names were later leaked by CBS News.

The legal justification for their deportation was the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, which gives the president wartime authority to summarily arrest and deport citizens of a nation that is in a declared war with the U.S., or which perpetrates, attempts, or threatens an "invasion or predatory incursion." U.S. president Donald Trump invoked the act on the basis that the Venezuelan criminal gang Tren de Aragua was invading the United States at the behest of the Venezuelan government. He ordered accused members of Tren de Aragua removed with expediency that did not leave time to defend against the accusations that they were gang members.

The deportees arrived in El Salvador after the judge in a class action lawsuit, J.G.G. v. Trump, had issued a temporary restraining order pausing deportations under the act and ordered any such flights to be stopped or turned around. The flights did not stop, setting up a confrontation between the Trump administration and the courts. They were transferred to CECOT by bus immediately when they arrived at El Salvador International Airport.

James Boasberg, chief judge of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, ruled on March 24 that the government cannot deport anyone under the Alien Enemies Act without notice and a hearing. The D.C. Court of Appeals upheld the block on the act, and the Trump administration filed an emergency appeal with the Supreme Court of the United States, asking it to vacate Boasberg's order and to immediately allow the administration to resume deportations under the Alien Enemies Act while it considered the request to vacate. On April 8, 2024, following the emergency appeal, the Supreme Court ruled per curiam that Boasberg was without jurisdiction to issue his order, thus the order was a nullity.

The 137 Venezuelans are only some of the people the U.S. has jailed at CECOT. The same flights also carried 101 Venezuelans deported under regular immigration law, whose names CBS also published, as well as 23 Salvadorans accused of membership in MS-13, including Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, who was deported by mistake. At the end of March the administration sent 17 more Venezuelan alleged members of Tren de Aragua and MS-13 to the prison. The government declined to comment on whether this was under the Alien Enemies Act in defiance of the court order, or through standard immigration processes. Trump supports incarcerating American citizens in El Salvador if the law allows, and has said he would discuss the possibility with the president of El Salvador. The 238 Venezuelans and 23 Salvadorans included at least one man who was then claimed by El Salvador to be Nicaraguan.

On April 19, 2025, the Supreme Court temporarily halted deportations of Venezuelans from a district in northern Texas via an emergency temporary restraining order, and on May 16, it granted an injunction, continuing the temporary pause while court proceedings continued.