The Trump administration revealed on Sunday that it had deported hundreds of people from the U.S. after President Donald Trump invoked a wartime law to speed up the deportations of people connected to the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua.
The announcement was made in the face of a court order from a federal judge temporarily blocking the administration’s ability to use the law, the Alien Enemies Act, on Saturday night, and ordered any planes currently flying migrants out of the country to turn around. The judge stated that the restraining order would remain in effect for two weeks “or until further order of the court.”
Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, said that the Department of Homeland Security had arrested almost 300 members of the Venezuelan gang this weekend. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said earlier on Sunday that “hundreds of violent criminals were sent out of our country” following Trump’s Saturday measures.
Meanwhile, the U.S. has launched military strikes against the Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen.
The Houthi-run health ministry said that at least 31 people were killed. Trump said the strikes would continue until the Houthis stopped their attacks on shipping vessels off the coast.
Trump drafts three-tier US travel ban targeting 43 countries
President Donald Trump appears to have expanded the scope of the travel ban from his first term to include 43 countries, according to a report.
Now, with that deadline approaching, a draft list of proposed countries banned from traveling to the US is circulating, the New York Times reported.
A White House official told The Independent no decision has been made.
It was developed by the State Department weeks ago, officials familiar with the matter told the outlet, who cautioned it will likely undergo changes by the time the White House gets ahold of it.
Read more from Kelly Rissman here:
US airstrikes on Yemen kill 31 after Houthis vow to target Red Sea shipping over Israel’s blockade of Gaza
The US military conducted overnight airstrikes on Yemen in what President Donald Trump claimed was a response to Houthi attacks on Red Sea shipping, killing at least 31 people, most of them women and children, at the start of a campaign expected to last many days.
The airstrikes came after the Houthis threatened to resume attacks on ships linked to Israel in the Red Sea over its blockade of Gaza.
The Houthis targeted around 100 military and civilian ships with missiles and drones, sinking two vessels and killing four sailors, between October 2023, when Israel launched its war on Gaza, and January 2025, when the ceasefire took effect.
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Trump administration deports hundreds linked to Venezuelan gang despite federal judge’s block
The Trump administration announced it had deported hundreds of alleged members of a Venezuelan gang, even after a federal judge temporarily blocked the administration from carrying out deportations under the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, which the president invoked on Saturday.
“This weekend, at the President’s direction, the Department of Homeland Security successfully arrested nearly 300 Tren De Aragua terrorists, saving countless American lives,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement Sunday. “Thanks to the great work of the Department of State, these heinous monsters were extracted and removed to El Salvador where they will no longer be able to pose any threat to the American People.”
Secretary of State Marco Rubio also remarked on the deportations Sunday, writing in a statement on X that “El Salvador has agreed to hold in their very good jails at a fair price that will also save our taxpayer dollars.” He added that the U.S. also sent two “dangerous” top MS-13 gang leaders as well as 21 Salvadorans “to face justice” in the country.
Read more from Katie Hawkinson and Kelly Rissman:
‘This is an all-out constitutional crisis’
The Vice President for Government Affairs at the Center for International Policy, Dylan Williams, reacted to the news that the Trump administration has deported hundreds of Venezuelans even as a court order from a federal judge ordered a pause on the use of the wartime authority the Alien Enemies Act.
“The Trump Administration has undeniably crossed the Rubicon of openly defying court orders,” Williams wrote on X. “It is not only acting in an unlawful manner — it is declaring itself the enemy of the rule of law in the United States. This is an all-out constitutional crisis.”
Jeffries: ‘Trump administration appears to be violating’ the law
House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries slammed the Trump administration’s use of the Alien Enemies Act, a wartime authority the Trump White House is using to speed up deportations.
Democrats are “going to stand strongly in support of the rule of law and its application, which the Trump administration appears to be violating in this particular instance,” Jeffries said Sunday.
On Saturday night, a court order from a federal judge temporarily blocked the administration’s ability to use the law, and ordered any planes currently flying migrants out of the country to turn around. The judge stated that the restraining order would remain in effect for two weeks “or until further order of the court.”
Trump administration deports hundreds of migrants even as judge orders that removals be stopped
The Trump administration has transferred hundreds of immigrants to El Salvador even as a federal judge issued an order temporarily barring the deportations under an 18th century wartime declaration targeting Venezuelan gang members, officials said Sunday. Flights were in the air at the time of the ruling.
U.S. District Judge James E. Boasberg issued an order Saturday blocking the deportations but lawyers told him there were already two planes with migrants in the air — one headed for El Salvador, the other for Honduras. Boasberg verbally ordered the planes be turned around, but they apparently were not and he did not include the directive in his written order.
“Oopsie…Too late,” Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele, a Trump ally who agreed to house about 300 migrants for a year at a cost of $6 million in his country’s prisons, wrote on the social media site X above an article about Boasberg’s ruling. That post was recirculated by White House communications director Steven Cheung.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who negotiated an earlier deal with Bukele to house migrants, posted on the site: “We sent over 250 alien enemy members of Tren de Aragua which El Salvador has agreed to hold in their very good jails at a fair price that will also save our taxpayer dollars.”
The migrants were deported after Trump’s declaration of the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, which has been used only three times in U.S. history.
The law, invoked during World Wars I and II and the War of 1812, requires a president to declare the United States is at war, giving him extraordinary powers to detain or remove foreigners who otherwise would have protections under immigration or criminal laws. It was last used to justify the detention of Japanese-American civilians during World War II.
The ACLU, which filed the lawsuit that led to Boasberg’s temporary restraining order on deportations, said it was asking the government whether the removals to El Salvador were in defiance of the court.
Rubio says U.S. has sent two MS-13 leaders to El Salvador
Secretary of State Marco Rubio wrote on X on Sunday morning that “We have sent 2 dangerous top MS-13 leaders plus 21 of its most wanted back to face justice in El Salvador.”
“Also, as promised by @POTUS, we sent over 250 alien enemy members of Tren de Aragua which El Salvador has agreed to hold in their very good jails at a fair price that will also save our taxpayer dollars,” he added. “President @nayibbukele is not only the strongest security leader in our region, he’s also a great friend of the U.S. Thank you!”
White House Press Secretary says DHS ‘arrested nearly 300 Tren De Aragua terrorists’
President Donald J. Trump signed a Proclamation Invoking the Alien Enemies Act regarding the Invasion of the United States by the Foreign Terrorist Organization Tren De Aragua, using his core powers as President and Commander-in-Chief to defend the American People from an urgent threat.
TDA is one of the most violent and ruthless terrorist gangs on planet earth. They rape, maim and murder for sport. TDA is responsible for some of the most heinous crimes that have occurred on US soil in recent years, including the murders of Laken Riley and Jocelyn Nungaray.
TDA is a direct threat to the national security of the United States.
This weekend, at the President’s direction, the Department of Homeland Security successfully arrested nearly 300 Tren De Aragua terrorists, saving countless American lives. Thanks to the great work of the Department of State, these heinous monsters were extracted and removed to El Salvador where they will no longer be able to pose any threat to the American People.
President Trump will always put the safety of the American People first — and he will never allow foreign terrorist enemies to operate on American soil and endanger our people. They will be found, restrained and removed — and their networks will be destroyed.
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