Published March 19, 2025
Last Saturday night, Chief Judge James E. Boasberg of District Court of the District of Columbia ordered any in-flight deportation planes carrying alleged Venezuelan Tren de Aragua gang members to return to the United States. Judging by the warm reception passengers on at least two flights received from El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele, the judicial order countermanding the deportation flights never got through.
Conservatives are by now accustomed to broad temporary restraining orders from unfriendly judges. But many were still shocked by the spectacle of a judge ordering mid-air deportation flights to turn around.
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Michael A. Fragoso is a fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center in the Constitution, the Courts, and the Culture Program, where he writes and speaks on issues relating to the law, the federal judiciary, and Congress. His writing has appeared in The Wall Street Journal, National Review, The Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy: Per Curiam, and elsewhere.
