‘Right not to cooperate in the President’s schemes’: States can’t be forced to help Donald Trump’s plans for mass deportations, Illinois argues in court filing

President Donald Trump speaks before Robert F. Kennedy Jr., is sworn in as HHS Secretary in the Oval Office, Thursday, Feb. 13, 2025, in Washington (Photo/Alex Brandon).

President Donald Trump speaks before Robert F. Kennedy Jr., is sworn in as HHS Secretary in the Oval Office, Thursday, Feb. 13, 2025, in Washington (Photo/Alex Brandon).

The Trump administration openly defied a federal judge’s order blocking the government from deporting hundreds of alleged gang members under a rarely used 18th century wartime authority, according to newly filed court documents.

Plaintiffs in the case on Monday morning implored Chief U.S. District Judge James E. Boasberg to order administration officials to submit “one or more sworn declarations about their conduct” to ascertain whether they willfully violated the court’s temporary restraining order (TRO) prohibiting deportations under the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 (AEA).

The administration has denied any wrongdoing, asserting that the planes carrying 137 alleged members of Venezuela’s Tren de Aragua (TdA) gang to Honduras and El Salvador were already out of U.S. airspace when Boasberg issued his order Saturday evening.

The ruling stemmed from a Saturday morning lawsuit filed by the ACLU on behalf of several pseudonymous Venezuelan men seeking to bar President Donald Trump from going through with his stated plan to deport the men using the obscure measure. In quick fashion, Boasberg granted the plaintiffs request, barring the government from invoking the AEA to remove individuals for 14 days and holding a Saturday evening hearing on the matter.

During the hearing, Justice Department attorneys told the court that two planes had already departed carrying individuals to Honduras and El Salvador. Boasberg at about 6:45 p.m. on Saturday issued an oral order that “unambiguously directed the government to turn around any planes carrying individuals being removed pursuant to the AEA Proclamation,” plaintiffs wrote in Monday’s filing.

From the transcript, Boasberg stated:

[T]hat you shall inform your clients of this immediately, and that any plane containing these folks that is going to take off or is in the air needs to be returned to the United States, but those people need to be returned to the United States. However that’s accomplished, whether turning around a plane or not embarking anyone on the plane or those people covered by this on the plane, I leave to you. But this is something that you need to make sure is complied with immediately

Boasberg’s brief written order, which was issued at about 7:25 p.m. Saturday, did not include the same directive ordering the planes to return to the country. Nonetheless, the administration allegedly allowed the planes to land and the individuals were handed over to the custody of other nations.

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