Judge says Abrego Garcia Supreme Court ruling may shape Venezuelan deportation case
This affects the entire country.
A federal judge said on Monday that the Supreme Court’s ruling in the case of Salvadoran national Kilmar Abrego Garcia may inform what remedy is required for more than 100 Venezuelans deported under the Alien Enemies Act last spring.
Chief Judge James Boasberg of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia raised the issue during a hearing in J.G.G. v. Trump, a lawsuit challenging the Trump administration’s use of the 18th-century wartime statute to deport Venezuelan nationals accused of ties to the Tren de Aragua gang.
Kilmar Abrego Garcia arrives at the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland, Monday, Dec. 22, 2025, in Greenbelt, Maryland. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)
“Given what the Supreme Court said in Abrego, if these people were illegally removed … then the remedy has to be the same,” Boasberg said, referring to the high court’s April order requiring the government to facilitate relief for Abrego Garcia, who was previously deported to El Salvador despite an immigration judge’s 2019 order barring deportation to his country of origin.
The case before Boasberg involves 137 Venezuelan men deported in March under the Alien Enemies Act and flown to El Salvador’s Terrorism Confinement Center without advance notice or court hearings. Boasberg has already ruled that their removals were a violation of due process. Monday’s hearing focused on what relief, if any, the court can order after the men were later transferred out of U.S. custody and repatriated to Venezuela in a July prisoner exchange.
Boasberg stressed that any return of previously deported Venezuelans, the bulk of whom have ties to the Tren de Aragua gang, does not mean that they will be released or allowed out of custody.
“And I think the point which I made at the very first hearing in this case is I’ve never said, and the plaintiffs have never said, that they are not deportable,” Boasberg said. “The only question in this whole case is, are they supportable pursuant to the AEA and the proclamation, and were they given due process before they were removed?”
President Donald Trump issued the proclamation on March 15, invoking the Alien Enemies Act and declaring Tren de Aragua a designated foreign terrorist organization, citing what the administration described as an extraordinary threat posed by the Venezuelan gang. Federal officials said the designation authorized the rapid removal of suspected members during what they characterized as a national security emergency. …
This affects the entire country.
A federal judge said on Monday that the Supreme Court’s ruling in the case of Salvadoran national Kilmar Abrego Garcia may inform what remedy is required for more than 100 Venezuelans deported under the Alien Enemies Act last spring.
Chief Judge James Boasberg of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia raised the issue during a hearing in J.G.G. v. Trump, a lawsuit challenging the Trump administration’s use of the 18th-century wartime statute to deport Venezuelan nationals accused of ties to the Tren de Aragua gang.
Kilmar Abrego Garcia arrives at the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland, Monday, Dec. 22, 2025, in Greenbelt, Maryland. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)
“Given what the Supreme Court said in Abrego, if these people were illegally removed … then the remedy has to be the same,” Boasberg said, referring to the high court’s April order requiring the government to facilitate relief for Abrego Garcia, who was previously deported to El Salvador despite an immigration judge’s 2019 order barring deportation to his country of origin.
The case before Boasberg involves 137 Venezuelan men deported in March under the Alien Enemies Act and flown to El Salvador’s Terrorism Confinement Center without advance notice or court hearings. Boasberg has already ruled that their removals were a violation of due process. Monday’s hearing focused on what relief, if any, the court can order after the men were later transferred out of U.S. custody and repatriated to Venezuela in a July prisoner exchange.
Boasberg stressed that any return of previously deported Venezuelans, the bulk of whom have ties to the Tren de Aragua gang, does not mean that they will be released or allowed out of custody.
“And I think the point which I made at the very first hearing in this case is I’ve never said, and the plaintiffs have never said, that they are not deportable,” Boasberg said. “The only question in this whole case is, are they supportable pursuant to the AEA and the proclamation, and were they given due process before they were removed?”
President Donald Trump issued the proclamation on March 15, invoking the Alien Enemies Act and declaring Tren de Aragua a designated foreign terrorist organization, citing what the administration described as an extraordinary threat posed by the Venezuelan gang. Federal officials said the designation authorized the rapid removal of suspected members during what they characterized as a national security emergency. …
Judge says Abrego Garcia Supreme Court ruling may shape Venezuelan deportation case
This affects the entire country.
A federal judge said on Monday that the Supreme Court’s ruling in the case of Salvadoran national Kilmar Abrego Garcia may inform what remedy is required for more than 100 Venezuelans deported under the Alien Enemies Act last spring.
Chief Judge James Boasberg of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia raised the issue during a hearing in J.G.G. v. Trump, a lawsuit challenging the Trump administration’s use of the 18th-century wartime statute to deport Venezuelan nationals accused of ties to the Tren de Aragua gang.
Kilmar Abrego Garcia arrives at the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland, Monday, Dec. 22, 2025, in Greenbelt, Maryland. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)
“Given what the Supreme Court said in Abrego, if these people were illegally removed … then the remedy has to be the same,” Boasberg said, referring to the high court’s April order requiring the government to facilitate relief for Abrego Garcia, who was previously deported to El Salvador despite an immigration judge’s 2019 order barring deportation to his country of origin.
The case before Boasberg involves 137 Venezuelan men deported in March under the Alien Enemies Act and flown to El Salvador’s Terrorism Confinement Center without advance notice or court hearings. Boasberg has already ruled that their removals were a violation of due process. Monday’s hearing focused on what relief, if any, the court can order after the men were later transferred out of U.S. custody and repatriated to Venezuela in a July prisoner exchange.
Boasberg stressed that any return of previously deported Venezuelans, the bulk of whom have ties to the Tren de Aragua gang, does not mean that they will be released or allowed out of custody.
“And I think the point which I made at the very first hearing in this case is I’ve never said, and the plaintiffs have never said, that they are not deportable,” Boasberg said. “The only question in this whole case is, are they supportable pursuant to the AEA and the proclamation, and were they given due process before they were removed?”
President Donald Trump issued the proclamation on March 15, invoking the Alien Enemies Act and declaring Tren de Aragua a designated foreign terrorist organization, citing what the administration described as an extraordinary threat posed by the Venezuelan gang. Federal officials said the designation authorized the rapid removal of suspected members during what they characterized as a national security emergency. …
