Federal Court Orders Immediate Return of Deported Venezuelan Gang Members to U.S. for Due Process

By Sam Barron

A federal judge ruled Monday that Venezuelans who were deported to El Salvador because they were accused of being gang members must be allowed to return to the United States to fight their case.

Judge James Boasberg ruled in favor of 100 Venezuelan men who were removed from the country earlier this year, accused of violating the Alien Enemies Act by being members of the Tren de Aragua gang.

Previous judges who heard the case had ruled that the Alien Enemies Act must provide due process for those accused of having gang ties.

“The Court finds that the only remedy that would give effect to its granting of Plaintiffs’ Motion would be to order the Government to undo the effects of their unlawful removal by facilitating a meaningful opportunity to contest their designation and the Proclamation’s validity,” Boasberg wrote.

“Otherwise, a finding of unlawful removal would be meaningless for Plaintiffs, who have already been sent back to Venezuela against their wishes and without due process,” Boasberg wrote.

“Expedited removal cannot be allowed to render this relief toothless. If secretly spiriting individuals to another country were enough to neuter the Great Writ, then ‘the Government could snatch anyone off the street, turn him over to a foreign country, and then effectively foreclose any corrective course of action,'” Boasberg wrote.

The judge gave the Trump administration until January 5 to facilitate the return of Plaintiffs to the United States or provide them with hearings that satisfy due process requirements.

Lee Gelernt, an attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union who represented the men, praised the ruling. “After enduring months of torture, these men will finally get the due process they deserve, notwithstanding the Trump administration’s underhanded attempts to deny them any opportunity to contest the accusations that they are gang members,” Gelernt stated in a release.

Many of those deported had been seeking asylum in the United States, stating they felt unsafe in Venezuela because they oppose leader Nicolás Maduro.