The White House on Monday was facing a legal battle over its use of the Alien Enemies Act, an 18th-century law, under which the United States began deporting Venezuelans allegedly linked to organized crime.
President Donald Trump also said he planned on Tuesday to speak with Russian President Vladimir Putin, as the U.S. president seeks to find common ground for a potential ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine.
Trump says 'this is a time of war' amid legal battle over deportations
President Donald Trump said his lawyers would have to answer questions about his administration's use of the Alien Enemies Act, but added that the U.S. was in a "time of war."
When asked aboard Air Force One on Sunday whether the administration deliberately violated a federal judge's order barring deportations under the Alien Enemies Act, Trump said he didn't know if the order was violated: "You have to speak to the lawyers."
President Donald Trump speaks to reporters aboard Air Force One on his return to Washington, D.C., U.S., March 16, 2025.
Kevin Lamarque/Reuters
Trump added that he felt he was using the Alien Enemies Act appropriately despite the fact it has never been invoked in peacetime, saying, "this is a time of war," and citing the Biden administration's immigration policies.
-ABC News' Nicholas Kerr
Mar 16, 2025, 5:25 PM EDT
White House asks court to stay temporary block on deportation flights
The Trump administration has asked the D.C. Circuit Court for a stay of District Judge James Boasberg’s ruling that temporarily blocked the government from deporting Venezuelans using the Alien Enemies Act.
The White House contends that Boasberg lacked jurisdiction to enter the temporary restraining order, which the administration describes in a filing to the appellate court as “unprecedented.”
“This Court should halt this massive, unauthorized imposition on the Executive’s authority to remove people that Defendants had determined to be members of [Tren de Aragua], a group the President and the Secretary of State have found to be a threat to national security. This Court should halt this unprecedented intrusion upon the Executive’s authority to remove dangerous aliens who pose grave threats to the American people,” wrote a DOJ attorney in an emergency motion for a stay.
Alleged members of the Venezuelan criminal organization Tren de Aragua who were deported by the U.S. government, are detained at the Terrorism Confinement Center in Tecoluca, El Salvador in a photo obtained Mar. 16, 2025.
Secretaria de Prensa de la Presidencia via Reuters
The government argues that Trump’s actions in invoking the AEA “are not subject to judicial review” and that there was “no lawful basis” for the court to enjoin the implementation of the president’s proclamation.
“If this TRO is allowed to stand,” the DOJ writes, “district courts would have license to enjoin virtually any urgent national-security action upon bare receipt of a complaint.”
The D.C. Circuit ordered a response to the emergency motion to stay be filed by Tuesday at 5 p.m. by the attorneys representing the plaintiffs in the underlying case.
-ABC News’ James Hill
Mar 16, 2025, 4:20 PM EDT
Did Venezuelans’ deportation flights violate a judge’s order
The Trump administration has sent hundreds of Venezuelans -- alleged Tren de Aragua gang members -- to El Salvador, raising questions whether the deportations violated a federal judge’s order that temporarily blocked their removal under the administration invoking the Alien Enemies Act.
During a hearing Saturday evening, U.S. District Judge James Boasberg in Washington, D.C., enjoined the removals of any Venezuelans already in U.S. custody and covered by the AEA proclamation, until further briefing over the administration’s use of the act.
Included in Boasberg’s oral ruling was an order that the government turn around any planes carrying people covered by the order that were in the air. During the hearing, the plaintiffs, represented by ACLU and Democracy Forward, told the court that they understood there to be at least two flights in the air heading for Honduras and El Salvador.
Salvadoran police officers escort alleged members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua recently deported by the U.S. government to be imprisoned in the Terrorism Confinement Center prison, in San Luis Talpa, El Salvador, obtained March 16, 2025.
Secretaria de Prensa de la Presidencia via Reuters
On Sunday, El Salvador President Nayib Bukele posted a video of officials in the country receiving 238 members of Tren de Aragua. “Oopsie, Too late,” Bukele posted on X in response to an article from the New York Post about Boasberg’s order to turn the flights around.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio thanked Bukele on X for receiving the migrants.
“We have sent 2 dangerous top MS-13 leaders plus 21 of its most wanted back to face justice in El Salvador,” Rubio said. “Also, as promised by @POTUS, we sent over 250 alien enemy members of Tren de Aragua which El Salvador has agreed to hold in their very good jails at a fair price that will also save our taxpayer dollars.”
Bukele said the migrants that arrived from the U.S. will be transferred to its Terrorism Confinement Center for “a period of one year.”
-ABC News’ Laura Romero, Katherine Faulders, Ely Brown and Peter Charalambous
