Judge Boasberg rules migrants at Salvadoran megaprison can contest gang accusations

A federal judge on Wednesday ruled a group of Venezuelans deported to a Salvadoran megaprison under the Alien Enemies Act must be provided a legal avenue to contest the Trump administration’s accusations that they are gang members.

U.S. District Judge James Boasberg did not outline specific steps the administration must take, providing one week to propose how it intends to comply.

Boasberg said he realized the ruling “may implicate sensitive diplomatic or national-security concerns” but said the administration “also has a constitutional duty to provide a remedy that will ‘make good the wrong done.’”

It’s a complex scenario for the administration to carry out.

The Trump administration has argued they have no ability to secure the return of anyone held at CECOT, a notorious Salvadoran prison known by its acronym in Spanish.

And Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele has said he will not return a mistakenly deported man sent to the facility under regular immigration authorities. That raises the prospect he would decline to do so for Venezuelans being incarcerated in a country that has also been criticized for due process violations in locking up gang members.

But the situation spurred an unusual ruling from Boasberg, who turned to literature in determining the men must be given the opportunity for due process.