Trump asks the Supreme Court to authorize deportations to El Salvador
The Attorney General of the United States, John Sauer, requested to resume the expulsion flights of Venezuelan migrants to the Central American country.
MigrationUnited States
Trump asks the Supreme Court to authorize deportations to El Salvador
04/20/202520 April 2025
The Attorney General of the United States, John Sauer, requested to resume the expulsion flights of Venezuelan migrants to the Central American country.
The building of the Supreme Court of Justice
The government of Donald Trump filed a petition on Saturday (04/19/2025) with the Supreme Court of the United States asking it to lift the temporary emergency block issued earlier this morning prohibiting the expulsion of Venezuelan migrants to El Salvador.
The petition, signed by the Attorney General of the U.S., John Sauer, asks the Supreme Court to allow the resumption of expulsion flights to the Central American country and also for lower courts to be able to resolve the case.
Shortly after midnight on Friday, the Supreme Court responded to an emergency petition from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), asking it to intervene in an "imminent" transfer of Venezuelan migrants to El Salvador from a detention center in Texas.
The Republican president invoked a law from 1789 -known as the Foreign Enemies Act- to justify the expulsions of Venezuelan migrants, accusing them of being part of the Tren de Aragua, a transnational criminal gang that the government labeled as "terrorist."
Criticism of Trump for using archaic law
The government's use of this law has provoked a wave of criticism from the Democratic opposition and legal experts who are already talking about a constitutional crisis.
The government's petition alleges that the emergency lawsuit that the ACLU filed last night was "terribly premature" because it "skipped" the lower courts.
He also claims that the government notified migrants with "advance notice" before starting the process to send them to El Salvador and points out that the administration has committed not to expel them under the foreign enemies law.
Washington reached an agreement with the president of El Salvador, Nayib Bukele, to be able to send detained migrants in the U.S. to the CECOT, a prison notorious for allegations of human rights abuses.
As part of the deal, the specific details of which are not known, Washington will pay El Salvador 6 million dollars annually to sustain the prison system.
In total, the United States has sent more than 200 migrants to this prison, mostly Venezuelans, accusing them of belonging to the Tren de Aragua gang.
gs (efe, ap, reuters)