Tom Homan, the Trump administration’s so-called “border czar,” has made it clear that large-scale deportations will press forward despite a federal judge’s ruling against the president’s use of the Alien Enemies Act, an 18th-century law, to expel suspected Venezuelan gang members without legal proceedings.
Over the weekend, the administration sent about 250 alleged gang-affiliated migrants to a massive prison facility in El Salvador, openly disregarding a directive from U.S. District Judge James Boasberg to prevent their removal.
On Monday, Homan appeared on Fox News and emphatically stated that the administration would not comply with the court ruling.
“They’re not gonna stop us. We made a promise to the American people, President Trump has made a promise to the American people, we’re gonna make this country safe again,” said Homan, his expression unwavering.
“We’re not stopping. I don’t care what the judges think, I don’t care what the left thinks, we’re coming,” he added.
According to Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele, the deportation flights included 238 individuals linked to the Venezuelan criminal network known as Tren de Aragua, as well as 21 members of the notorious MS-13 gang.
A senior administration official told The New York Post that the group included individuals facing serious allegations such as kidnapping, child sexual abuse, violent assaults, prostitution, and attacking a law enforcement officer.
Authorities, however, did not disclose the identities of any of the individuals on the deportation flights.
Upon arrival in El Salvador, the suspected gang members were immediately placed under the control of armed security forces, who quickly escorted them to the high-security Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT) while they remained restrained and hunched forward, as seen in footage released by Bukele.
Judge Boasberg issued a ruling demanding an immediate halt to all deportations conducted under the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, a statute that had previously been invoked during World War II to detain immigrants from Japan, Germany, and Italy in internment camps.
“Any plane containing these folks that is going to take off or is in the air needs to be returned to the United States however that is accomplished,” Boasberg wrote, as reported by The Washington Post.
“Make sure it’s complied with immediately.”
Despite the judge’s order, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt insisted in a post on X that the administration had not “refused to comply,” arguing instead that Boasberg’s ruling lacked any legitimate legal standing because the “terrorist TdA aliens” had already been expelled.
“The written order and the Administration’s actions do not conflict. Moreover, as the Supreme Court has repeatedly made clear — federal courts generally have no jurisdiction over the President’s conduct of foreign affairs, his authorities under the Alien Enemies Act, and his core Article II powers to remove foreign alien terrorists from U.S. soil and repel a declared invasion,” said Leavitt.
“A single judge in a single city cannot direct the movements of an aircraft carrying foreign alien terrorists who were physically expelled from U.S. soil,” she said.
In January, Trump signed an executive order labeling Tren de Aragua as a foreign terrorist organization, thereby giving federal authorities a greater ability to arrest and remove members of the gang operating within the United States.
Thus far, the administration’s intensified deportation campaign has led to over 32,000 arrests, with 70% of those apprehended either currently facing criminal charges or having prior convictions, according to senior officials from the Department of Homeland Security last week.
The DHS has not yet provided an official count of how many individuals have been deported since these operations began.
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