BREAKING: Judge Boasberg rejects Trump admin's bid to remove block on deporting gang members

US District Judge James Boasberg on Monday refused to end his temporary ban on the deportation of Venezuelan gang members under the Alien Enemies Act. This comes as an appeals court is set to hear the Trump administration’s case on Monday afternoon.

Boasberg wrote, "The Court need not resolve the thorny question of whether the judiciary has the authority to assess this claim in the first place. That is because Plaintiffs are likely to succeed on another equally fundamental theory: before they may be deported, they are entitled to individualized hearings to determine whether the Act applies to them. As the Government itself concedes, the awesome power granted by the Act may be brought to bear only on those who are, in fact, 'alien enemies.'"

Boasberg wrote that because the plaintiffs in the case argue that they are not members of Tren de Aragua, "they may not be deported until a court has been able to decide the merits of their challenge. Nor may any members of the provisionally certified class be removed until they have been given the opportunity to challenge their designations as well."

The Trump administration has moved to vacate the temporary restraining order "primarily on the ground that there is not a sufficient likelihood that Plaintiffs will succeed on their legal claims."

Boasberg said that Trump’s invocation of the Alien Enemies Act "implicates a host of complicated legal issues," and that "despite the President's determination otherwise, Tren de Aragua is not a 'foreign nation or government,' and its actions, however heinous, do not amount to an 'invasion,' or a 'predatory incursion.'"

On the evening of March 15, Boasberg issued a 14-day temporary restraining order following an emergency hearing blocking the Trump administration from deporting people under the Alien Enemies Act, which was invoked to target gang members in the country. During the hearing, Boasberg ordered the Trump administration to turn around deportation flights in the air.  The Trump administration has said that it complied with the written order from Boasberg, which was issued after the planes were in the air.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters when pressed on the issue, "All of the planes that were subject to the written order—the judge's written order—took off before the order was entered in the courtroom on Saturday, and the administration will, of course, be happily answering all of those questions that the judge poses in court later today."

In a hearing, lawyers representing the Trump administration argued that the administration "complied with the [written] order," and argued that it took precedence over the oral order given by Boasberg at 6:45 pm on Saturday.