President Donald Trump’s invocation of an 18th-century wartime law to deport hundreds of immigrants, most of them Venezuelans, to a prison in El Salvador has led to a showdown with the judiciary.
It has involved a series of legal filings, White House announcements, court hearings, deportation flights and a mocking social media post from a Central American leader.
Here is a timeline of events surrounding the invocation of the Alien Enemies Act. All times are Eastern.
Saturday, March 15
—2:16 a.m.: Two legal advocacy groups, the ACLU and Democracy Forward, sue on behalf of five Venezuelans held in immigration detention who fear they will be falsely labeled members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua and deported under the 1798 law, which lawyers expect to be invoked soon.
—9:40 a.m.: Judge James E. Boasberg issues a temporary restraining order preventing the government from deporting the five plaintiffs. He schedules a 5 p.m. hearing on whether to expand it. The Trump administration appeals. —About 4 p.m.: The White House posts the order invoking the Alien Enemies Act.
—5 p.m.: Boasberg convenes a hearing and asks Deputy Assistant Attorney General Drew Ensign if the government plans to deport anyone under Trump’s new proclamation “in the next 24 or 48 hours.” Ensign says he doesn’t know. He asks for time to find out. The ACLU warns that planes are apparently about to depart. Boasberg gives Ensign about 40 minutes to find out and recesses the hearing at 5:22 pm.
—5:26 p.m.: An airplane with the tail number N278GX, believed by activists to be carrying deportees, leaves Harlingen, Texas, near the border with Mexico, according to the flight tracking website FlightAware.
—5:45 p.m.: A second plane, with the tail number N837VA and believed by activists to be carrying deportees, departs Harlingen.
—About 5:55 p.m.: Boasberg reconvenes the hearing. Ensign says he still has no specifics. The ACLU again warns that planes are leaving. Boasberg says he has to issue a new order to avoid anyone being immediately deported.
—Around 6:45 p.m.: Boasberg tells Ensign: “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 verbally issues his order, which stands for 14 days, and notes that immigrants protected by it will remain in U.S. custody.
—7:26 p.m.: Boasberg’s written order is released. —7:36 p.m.: The plane with the tail number N278GX lands in Honduras. —7:37 p.m.: A plane with the tail number N630VA, believed by activists to be carrying deportees, departs Harlingen. Government lawyers later say this plane held no one deported under the newly invoked law.
—8:02 p.m. The plane with the tail number N837VA lands in El Salvador. —9:46 p.m.: The plane with the tail number N630VA arrives in Honduras.
—10:41 p.m.: The plane with the tail number N278GX departs Honduras.
Sunday, March 16:
—12:05 a.m.: The plane with the tail number N278GX arrives in El Salvador. —12:41 a.m.: The plane with the tail number N630VA leaves Honduras.
—1:03 a.m.: The plane with the tail number N630VA arrives in El Salvador. —7:46 a.m.: El Salvador’s president, Nayib Bukele, tweets a New York Post headline saying Boasberg had ordered planes turned around. Bukele adds “Oopsie … Too late” and a laughing/crying emoji. —8:13 a.m.: Bukele tweets footage of the deportees arriving and being processed into his country’s showcase prison. —8:39 a.m.: Secretary of State Marco Rubio posts Bukele’s tweet. —9:29 a.m.: White House Communications director recirculates Bukele’s laughing post
