Judge Questions US Defense Department Role in Venezuelans' Deportations

Source: US News and World Report/Reuters

April 28, 2025, at 4:31 p.m.


BOSTON (Reuters) - A federal judge ordered the Trump administration on Monday to turn over the names of any migrants flown recently from the U.S. naval base in Guantanamo Bay to El Salvador so he could determine whether they were deported in violation of a court order he issued.

U.S. District Judge Brian Murphy said at a hearing in Boston that the information was necessary to assess the administration's claims that flying four Venezuelans held at the U.S. naval base in Cuba to El Salvador did not flout Murphy's order from March because the flight was conducted by the Department of Defense.

Murphy in late March had issued a temporary restraining order, which he later extended into an injunction, restricting the Department of Homeland Security's ability to rapidly deport migrants to countries other than their own without allowing them to first raise concerns about their safety or potential torture.

U.S. Justice Department attorney Jonathan Guynn said at Monday's hearing that because the Homeland Security Department did not "direct" the Defense Department to deport the four individuals, three of whom belonged to the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua, the administration had not violated the judge's orders. The hearing marked the latest instance of a judge questioning the administration's compliance, or lack thereof, with court rulings limiting its aggressive deportation practices as part of the Republican president's immigration crackdown.

Read more: https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2025-04-28/judge-questions-us-defense-department-role-in-venezuelans-deportations