Timeline: Trump administration and federal judges are clashing over migrant deportations
A U.S. federal judge says there's probable cause to hold the Trump administration in contempt for violating a March 15 court order that would have prevented the U.S. from flying more than 200 Venezuelan migrants to El Salvador under a wartime law.
In a 46-page ruling, Chief U.S. District Judge James E. Boasberg threatened Wednesday to hold a contempt hearing for administration officials for disregarding the order and denying due process to those who were deported.
President Donald Trump, who promised "the largest deportation program of criminals in the history of America," has expelled thousands of migrants from the U.S. and ignited a potentially bitter clash between his administration and the federal judiciary.
Trump signed 10 executive orders related to immigration on his first day in office. The deportations began a few days later, with people being sent to Guatemala. Others were later sent to Colombia, Mexico, and El Salvador.
In the past few weeks, deportations have become one of the administration's highest-profile disputed actions. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts rebuked Trump for advocating the impeachment of a federal judge who ruled against the expulsions.
Paste BN tracked major deportations of migrants since January. Here is what we found:
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Jan. 21: One day after taking office, Trump declares illegal immigration in the U.S. is a national emergency.
Jan. 22: The Pentagon announces it will provide aircraft for deportations of more than 5,000 people detained by U.S. Customs and Border Patrol near San Diego and El Paso, Texas.
Jan. 23: The White House says "538 illegal immigrant criminals" and others have been arrested and hundreds more have been flown out of the U.S. aboard military aircraft.
Jan. 24: Two flights of U.S. military aircraft transport about 160 migrants to Guatemala.
Jan. 26: Colombia's President Gustavo Petro refuses to let two U.S. military planes carrying deported migrants land in Colombia. Trump responds with threats of tariffs and other sanctions against Colombia. Petro later concedes and agrees to take in migrants.
Jan. 27: A military aircraft carrying 64 migrants lands in Guatemala.
Jan. 29: Trump orders the U.S. naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to be prepared to house 30,000 migrants.
Feb. 14: About 13,455 migrants have been deported to Mexico during Trump's second term so far, according to Mexico's President Claudia Sheinbaum, who says 2,970 of them did not originate from Mexico. More than 4,000 were deported during Trump's first week in office.
Deportation flights proceed despite federal judge's order
Note: All times shown are Eastern Time and are approximate.
March 14: Trump signs an executive order invoking the Alien Enemies Act of 1789 to deport members of the Tren de Aragua gang. The act allows the president to detain or deport foreign nationals of an enemy nation during times of war. Trump signs the order that evening.
March 15: Early in the day, the American Civil Liberties Union and Democracy Forward file suit in federal court in Washington against the Trump administration. They say five Venezuelan men being held at El Valle, Texas, and elsewhere are at "imminent risk of removal." The suit was filed before the Trump administration announced the executive order.
2:31 p.m.: Thomas Cartwright, a finance executive-turned-immigration activist, says he has spotted "TWO HIGHLY UNUSUAL ICE flights showing up now from Harlingen (Texas) to El Salvador," according to Reuters, which reports the activist has posted this on the social media site X. The post is later removed.
5 p.m.: James Boasberg, the chief judge for the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, begins a hearing on the ACLU lawsuit.
5:26 p.m.: The first plane, Global X Airbus 320-214 aircraft, with the tail number N278GX, departs from Harlingen, Texas, located about 30 miles from the Gulf.
5:45 p.m.: A second plane, Global X Airbus, N837VA, departs from Harlingen.
6:48 p.m.: Boasberg issues a verbal order to halt any deportations that haven't been reviewed in court. The judge says any transport planes in the air should return immediately. The first plane is over Mexico, the second is over the Gulf, according to the New York Times; neither turns back.
7:25 p.m.: The judge's order is officially filed, recorded in the court docket, and posted online. At that point, the first plane is flying over Honduras and the second plane is over Mexico, the Times says.
7:37 p.m.: The first plane lands in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, on its way to El Salvador. A third plane, Airbus N630VA, departs Harlingen.
8:10 p.m.: The second plane lands in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, on its way to El Salvador.
9:50 p.m.: The third plane lands in Comayagua, Honduras, on its way to El Salvador.
11:10 p.m.: The first plane lands in El Salvador.
11:43 p.m.: The second plane departs Tegucigalpa, Honduras, on its way to El Salvador.
March 16 | 12:18 a.m.: The second plane lands in El Salvador.
1:08 a.m.: The third plane lands in El Salvador.
Of those aboard the planes, 238 are Tren de Aragua members and 23 are members of the Salvadoran gang MS-13, says El Salvador's President Nayib Bukele.
7:46 a.m.: On X, Bukele posts "Oopsie...Too late" with an image of a New York Post headline "Fed judge orders deportation flights carrying alleged Venezuelan gangbangers to return to US"
8:13 a.m.: Bukele publishes a video, set to martial music, of migrants being dragged from planes in shackles and hustled into buses amid a massive security presence. Three GlobalX jets are visible in the video, including one bearing the tail number N837VA.
The migrants are transferred to the Terrorism Confinement Center, a 57-acre maximum security prison in Tecoluca, El Salvador.
March 17 | 6:41 a.m.: On X, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt posts: "The Administration did not ‘refuse to comply’ with a court order. The order, which had no lawful basis, was issued after terrorist TdA aliens had already been removed from U.S. territory."
Leavitt later tells Fox News the U.S. is paying $6 million to El Salvador to take the migrants, who are scheduled to be sent to their home countries.
March 18 | 9:05 a.m.: On Truth Social, Trump posts that Boasberg should be impeached. "This judge, like many of the Crooked Judges’ I am forced to appear before, should be IMPEACHED!!! WE DON’T WANT VICIOUS, VIOLENT, AND DEMENTED CRIMINALS, MANY OF THEM DERANGED MURDERERS, IN OUR COUNTRY. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!!!"
Later, in a statement, Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts rebukes Trump – but does not name him – on impeachment threat: "For more than two centuries, it has been established that impeachment is not an appropriate response to disagreement concerning a judicial decision. The normal appellate review process exists for that purpose."
12:04 p.m.: Rep. Brandon Gill, R-Texas, introduces articles of impeachment against Boasberg.
March 24: In a Washington court hearing, a U.S. appeals court judge says Nazis were given more rights to contest their removal from the United States during World War Two than Venezuelan migrants deported by the Trump administration.
March 26: A federal appeals court upholds a pause on Trump's order to deport the Venezuelans. The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that in regard to invocation of the 1798 Alien Enemies Act, an invasion must come from a government as opposed to a gang.
April 16: Boasberg rules there is probable cause to hold the Trump administration in contempt for violating the judge's March 15 order to halt the deportation flights.
SOURCE Paste BN Network reporting and research; Reuters