On Saturday evening, D.C. district court Chief Judge James Boasberg, ruling from the bench, ordered the U.S. government to turn around any planes headed to El Salvador or elsewhere with Venezuelan immigrants onboard under the administration’s purported invocation of the Alien Enemies Act.
On Sunday, the New York Times reported that “the Trump administration has sent hundreds of Venezuelans accused of being gang members to a prison in El Salvador, pushing the limits of U.S. immigration law seemingly after a federal judge ordered that the deportation flights not proceed.”
I have assembled a detailed timeline of the events in question.
5:00PM EDT: Scheduled hearing starts
Judge Boasberg asks the Government attorney whether deportations are imminent in the next 24-48 hours.
The Government attorney says he does not know and that he cannot “confirm or contest” whether that action is happening.
The ACLU attorney tells Judge Boasberg that they’re aware the U.S. Government is very rapidly moving people in planes to El Salvador.
Before 5:22PM: In response, Judge Boasberg orders the hearing to take a break for the Government attorney to obtain official information on what’s happening to provide to the court when the hearing resumes at 6:00PM.
5:45PM: A flight (GlobalX 6145) takes off from Harlingen, TX for San Salvador, El Salvador (per Politico’s Joshua Gerstein post using flightaware data)
6:00PM: Hearing resumes
Before 6:52PM: Judge issues ruling from the bench for the Government to turn around any planes carrying noncitizens subject to the Enemy Aliens Act presidential proclamation.
Judge Boasberg says: “Any plane containing these folks that is going to take off or is in the air needs to be returned to the United States.”
Judge Boasberg says: “This is something you need to make sure is complied with immediately.”
8:02PM (converting El Salvador CST to EDT): GlobalX 6145 arrives in San Salvador, El Salvador (per Politico’s Joshua Gerstein post using flightaware data)*
[Update: After publication, Axios published a report referencing two flights that at about 6:51 p.m “were off the Yucatan Peninsula, according to flight paths posted on X.” “Inside the White House, officials discussed whether to order the planes to turn around. On advice from a team of administration lawyers, the administration pressed ahead,” the Axios report states.]
* This timeline has been updated to reflect the change between Central Standard Time (which El Salvador is on) and Eastern Daylight Time.