Judge Jeb Boasberg Orders Return of More Than 200 Illegal Aliens Deported to El Salvador

Justice James "Jeb" Boasberg is not giving up on his crusade to have more than a hundred Venezuelan nationals returned to the United States, where they were living illegally. This is the same judge who originally ordered the planes carrying illegal Venezuelan gang-bangers to El Salvador to turn around in midair and bring them back. Instead, they ended up at the CECOT prison in El Salvador, the subject of the 60 Minutes segment everyone is losing their minds over.

As we reported last month, Boasberg had given the Trump administration one week to file affidavits from all officials involved in the decision to carry out Alien Enemies Act deportations to El Salvador and threatened "contempt prosecution" of Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. This guy will not give up. Earlier this month, Boasberg declined to appear at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing called "Impeachment: Holding Rogue Judges Accountable."

Boasberg is a dog with a bone, and now he's ordered the Trump administration to either return 137 Venezuelans to the United States or give them hearings. ABC News' post doesn't name the judge, but we bet you would have guessed.

The Trump administration must submit plans to return or provide hearings for more than 100 migrants who were deported to El Salvador's CECOT mega-prison in March, a judge has ordered. https://t.co/KmhQBLuTag
— ABC News (@ABC) December 22, 2025

Armando Garcia reports:

U.S. District Judge James Boasberg on Monday ordered the Trump administration to submit plans to return or otherwise provide hearings for over 200 migrants who were deported to El Salvador's CECOT mega-prison in March.
Boasberg has certified a class representing all migrants sent to the prison and says the government must submit its plans to allow them to contest their designation under the Alien Enemies Act by Jan. 5.
The Trump administration in March invoked the AEA -- an 18th century wartime authority used to remove noncitizens with little-to-no due process -- to deport two planeloads of alleged migrant gang members to the El Salvador prison by arguing that the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua is a "hybrid criminal state" that is invading the United States.
Boasberg issued a temporary restraining order and ordered that the planes be turned around, but Justice Department attorneys said his oral instructions directing the flight to be returned were defective, and the deportations proceeded as planned.