U.S. District Judge James Boasberg—with a history of halting Trump administration policies—sided with the president in a case regarding deporting criminal illegal immigrants to El Salvador.
Boasberg, the chief judge in the District of Columbia and an appointee of President Barack Obama, sided with the administration against liberal groups who sued to prevent illegal immigrants from El Salvador convicted of crimes in the United States from being deported to prisons back home.
The judge—who previously curbed President Donald Trump’s policies on deporting illegal immigrants and prompted congressional Republicans to call for his impeachment—ruled that the plaintiffs lacked standing to challenge a diplomatic agreement between two countries.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced an agreement on the policy with El Salvadoran officials in February 2025.
Under the agreement, El Salvador would detain the convicts with the U.S. covering the cost.
The following June, five liberal nonprofits, led by Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights, sued the State Department to void the policy. The plaintiffs alleged the prisoners were subjected to human rights abuses and couldn’t contact their legal counsel.
The groups claimed standing since they provided legal counsel, saying the policy impeded their ability to communicate with clients.
“This Court is all too familiar with the Government’s hasty deportation of immigrants to El Salvador, though only through the lens of individual removals,” said Boasberg’s opinion issued on Wednesday.
“The present suit arrives from a different vantage point, training its sights not on those removals but on the diplomatic instrument that preceded and allegedly enabled them.”
The government moved to dismiss the case, which he granted.
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U.S. District Judge James Boasberg—with a history of halting Trump administration policies—sided with the president in a case regarding deporting criminal illegal immigrants to El Salvador.
Boasberg, the chief judge in the District of Columbia and an appointee of President Barack Obama, sided with the administration against liberal groups who sued to prevent illegal immigrants from El Salvador convicted of crimes in the United States from being deported to prisons back home.
The judge—who previously curbed President Donald Trump’s policies on deporting illegal immigrants and prompted congressional Republicans to call for his impeachment—ruled that the plaintiffs lacked standing to challenge a diplomatic agreement between two countries.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced an agreement on the policy with El Salvadoran officials in February 2025.
Under the agreement, El Salvador would detain the convicts with the U.S. covering the cost.
The following June, five liberal nonprofits, led by Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights, sued the State Department to void the policy. The plaintiffs alleged the prisoners were subjected to human rights abuses and couldn’t contact their legal counsel.
The groups claimed standing since they provided legal counsel, saying the policy impeded their ability to communicate with clients.
“This Court is all too familiar with the Government’s hasty deportation of immigrants to El Salvador, though only through the lens of individual removals,” said Boasberg’s opinion issued on Wednesday.
“The present suit arrives from a different vantage point, training its sights not on those removals but on the diplomatic instrument that preceded and allegedly enabled them.”
The government moved to dismiss the case, which he granted.