As legal fight raged, ICE buses filled with Venezuelans heading toward airport turned around | Ensign said he understood there would be no flights Friday night and that he was ‘not aware of any plans’ for flights on Saturday. At the same time, ICE buses were nearing the airport exit

Those detainees are very lucky that SCOTUS stepped in, because it sure looks like the Trump Admin tried to pull a fast one by keeping their lawyer in the dark:

> Shortly before [Boasberg’s] hearing kicked off, ACLU attorneys also asked the Supreme Court to step in.

> “We hear they are on buses on the way to the airport,” said Lee Gelernt, the lawyer for the ACLU arguing on behalf of detainees on the verge of being deported under the Alien Enemies Act.

> Upon learning this information, Boasberg asked Justice Department lawyer Drew Ensign to make calls to ensure there were no flights deporting immigrants from Bluebonnet under the Alien Enemies Act on Friday night.

> Ensign said he understood there would be no flights Friday night and that he was “not aware of any plans” for flights on Saturday, but that the Department of Homeland Security reserved the right to conduct flights on Saturday.

> At the same time, the ICE buses were nearing their approach to the airport exit.

!ping LAW&IMMIGRATION