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Trump administration facing lawsuits over deportations to El Salvador
The Trump administration defied a federal judges order, according to a new lawsuit by the ACLU and Democracy Forward, which said Monday that three planes carrying more than 200 people were sent to El Salvador and all passengers were booked in a high security jail for gang members. Immigration law experts say there was no due process or proof the people were gang members and many were Venezuelan.
OAKLAND, Calif. - Two groups filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration on Monday, calling the weekend deportation of more than 200 people to El Salvador was illegal and flagrantly disregarded the order of a federal judge to turn the planes around and bring the men back to the United States for due process procedures.
El Salvador's President, Nayib Bukele posted video showing men in restraints being shuffled off the planes and steered into vehicles for transportation to a high-security prison for gang members. The video shows the men's heads and beards being shaven.
What they're saying:
White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said of the 261 migrants deported to El Salvador, 137 were removed under the wartime Alien Enemies Act of 1798.
"One hundred and one of those were Venezuelans via Title 8 which you know is regular immigration proceedings, and 23 of them were MS13 Salvadoran gang members. There were also two MS-13 ringleaders as part of that group of 23. President Bukele particularly expressed gratitude for their return," Leavitt said.
The White House claims all those deported were gang members.
"Every single person in America should be terrified at what just happened," said Francisco Ugarte, the manager of the SF Public Defenders Office's immigration unit, who says the people were deported with no evidence.
What is the Alien Enemies Act?
The Deportations Were Done Invoking An 18th Century Alien Enemy Act.
"When this country has declared war against another country, or if there is an active invasion from a foreign state into this country," Ugarte explained how the Alien Enemies Act is used.
"This is a wartime act that Congress has declared for extreme circumstances," Ugarte said. "What the Trump administration has done is identified a couple of criminal organizations and said they were a quasi-state, and therefore they have the right to invoke this act."
According to a lawsuit filed Monday by the ACLU and Democracy Forward, two planes took off and were out of the country when a federal judge ordered the Trump administration to bring the deportees back. A third plane took off after the judge's restraining order. The plaintiffs said it was a blatant violation of a court order.
Venezuelan officials called it a kidnapping.
The Trump administration said the planes were already in international airspace.
'Lack of due process'
"We're really worried about the lack of due process given to these folks and then also the apparent lack of respect for the court order," said Catherine Seitz, the legal Director of the Immigration Institute of the Bay Area.
"In the first Trump administration, something similar happened, in that they rounded up alleged MS-13 members, and it turned out that once these cases were looked into more. Many of the young men were not gang members, and they had just been caught up in a sweep. "So that's what happens when you don't have due process," Seitz said.
This story was reported from Oakland, California.
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