A Judge Ordered Deportation Planes to Turn Around. The White House Didn’t Listen.
"A New York Times review of flight data showed that at the time of a federal judge’s order, two flights were in the air, and one had not yet taken off.
The federal judge’s ruling was clear: The Trump administration could not use an obscure wartime law from the 18th century to deport people without a hearing.
If any planes were already in the air, the judge said, they should turn back.
That did not happen. Instead, the Trump administration sent more than 200 migrants to El Salvador over the weekend, including alleged gang members, on three planes.
A New York Times review of the flight data showed that none of the planes in question landed in El Salvador before the judge’s order, and that one of them did not even leave American soil until after the judge’s written order was posted online.
During a Monday court hearing, a Justice Department lawyer argued that the White House had not defied the order by the judge, James E. Boasberg of the Federal District Court in Washington.
The lawyer, Abhishek Kambli, argued that the judge’s decision was not complete until it was codified in written form. And — crucial to the government’s explanation — the written version did not include the specific instruction to turn planes around.
Mr. Kambli also argued that while the third plane contained deportees, their cases were not covered by the judge’s order.
Location of deportation flights when a judge ordered them to stop
This map shows the planes’ positions at 6:48 p.m. on March 15. ICE had chartered the planes, which carried hundreds of Venezuelans from Texas to El Salvador with a stop in Honduras.
Harlingen,
Texas
Comayagua,
Honduras
All three flights landed in Honduras
between 7:30 and 9:50 p.m. and
took off for El Salvador between
11:30 p.m. and 1 a.m.
San Salvador,
El Salvador
Source: Flightradar24
Note: All times Eastern.
By Albert Sun
Here is a timeline of the events in question, with all times Eastern:
Friday, March 14
President Trump signed an executive order invoking the Alien Enemies Act of 1798. The order targeted a criminal gang called Tren de Aragua and claimed it was carrying out an “invasion” of the United States.
The administration targeted more than 200 people for deportation. More than half were targeted using the authority cited in the executive order.
Saturday, March 15
The Trump administration formally announced the executive order. The American Civil Liberties Union and Democracy Forward, a liberal-leaning legal organization, had filed a lawsuit on behalf of five Venezuelan men being held in immigration custody.
Trump administration officials said that they delayed the deportation of the five people included in the lawsuit, but continued with the deportation flights for others in custody.
At 5:26 p.m., the first deportation flight in question, GlobalX Flight 6143, departed from Harlingen, Texas.
At 5:44 p.m., a second flight, GlobalX Flight 6145, departed Harlingen.
Around 6:48 p.m., before the planes arrived in El Salvador, Judge Boasberg verbally directed the government to turn around planes carrying people being removed under the executive order, according to a court transcript. “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,” the judge said.
At the time of Judge Boasberg’s verbal order, one of the planes was over Mexico; a second was over the Gulf of Mexico, which the Trump administration renamed to the Gulf of America; and a third had not yet taken off.
The planes did not turn around.
At 7:26 p.m., the judge’s written order, which did not include the instruction to turn planes around, was posted online. At that point, the first plane was over Honduras, the second was over Mexico and the third was still on the ground in Texas.
At 7:36 p.m., the third deportation flight, GlobalX Flight 6122, departed from Harlingen.
Honduran officials who were not authorized to speak publicly on the matter confirmed that three planes landed at the Soto Cano air base, where a U.S. military task force has long been stationed. After several hours, the planes took off for El Salvador.
The first plane departed Honduras at 11:39 p.m. and arrived in San Salvador, El Salvador, on March 16 at 12:10 a.m.
The second plane departed Honduras at 11:43 p.m. and arrived in San Salvador at 12:18 a.m. on March 16.
The third flight left at 12:39 a.m. on March 16 and arrived at 1:08 a.m.
Sunday, March 16
At 7:46 a.m., President Nayib Bukele of El Salvador posted on social media, “Oopsie … Too late.” The post referred to a New York Post headline that said: “Fed judge orders deportation flights carrying alleged Venezuelan gangbangers to return to US, blocks Trump from invoking Alien Enemies Act.”
Secretary of State Marco Rubio promoted the post on his personal X account.
At 8:13 a.m., Mr. Bukele posted a three-minute video with dramatic footage of men being marched off a plane and into a prison.
Monday, March 17
In an interview on Fox News, Thomas D. Homan, Mr. Trump’s border czar, was dismissive of concerns that the Trump administration violated a court order.
“I don’t care what the judges think,” he said, adding that “the plane was already over international waters with a plane full of terrorists and significant public safety threats.”
“We removed terrorists,” Mr. Homan said. “That should be a celebration in this country.”
Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, said that the administration was following only the judge’s written order, issued at 7:26 p.m., not the verbal order given from the bench at 6:48 p.m.
“All of the planes subject to the written order of this judge departed U.S. soil, U.S. territory, before the judge’s written order,” she said, adding: “There’s actually questions about whether a verbal order carries the same weight as a legal order, as a written order. Our lawyers are determined to ask and answer those questions in court.”
Ms. Leavitt did not appear to address the third flight, which took off after the judge’s written order was posted. The Trump administration had argued that the third flight was carrying deportees who were not covered under his order.
At 5 p.m., Judge Boasberg held a hearing on whether the White House violated his order.
Mr. Kambli, the Justice Department lawyer, refused to answer questions, saying that the only information he was authorized to disclose — even to the judge — was that the government did not violate the order.
He said that he could not say more, citing “national security concerns.”
When Mr. Kambli argued that there was a difference between the judge’s verbal and written orders, Judge Boasberg replied, “That’s a heckuva stretch.”
Judge Boasberg told the Trump administration to respond by noon on Tuesday with more detailed answers to his questions. He asked for a sworn declaration that no one on the third flight was covered by his order.
March 18, 2025
:Because of an editing error, an earlier version of this article stated incorrectly when the American Civil Liberties Union and Democracy Forward filed a lawsuit on behalf of five Venezuelans being held in immigration custody. It was filed before the Trump administration announced an executive order invoking the Alien Enemies Act, not in response to it.
Albert Sun is a data reporter and graphics editor at The Times who covers immigration."
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