Trump spokesperson denies deportations were illegal and says White House ‘confident’ it will win in court – live

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Associated Press, CEO, District Court, Donald Trump, ET, FBI, Mexico, New York, President Donald Trump, Supreme Court
March 18, 2025
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Judge incredulous as administration contends verbal court order on deportation isn’t binding – report

Tonight’s high-stakes hearing, in which a Trump administration lawyer was asked whether the Trump administration simply ignored a judge’s order to halt deportation flights, ended around 6pm ET, and the bigger picture analysis of what happened is coming in.

My Guardian colleagues will have more on this soon, but the Associated Press has a quick and useful overview of what happened:

A federal judge on Monday was incredulous at the contention by the Trump administration that his directive to turn around deportation flights wasn’t binding because it was made verbally.

District court Judge James Boasberg made the demand Saturday night as he temporarily halted deportations under wartime powers President Donald Trump had declared minutes earlier under a rarely used 18th century law. But planes were already en route to El Salvador.

The plaintiffs in the lawsuit asked Boasberg to determine if the administration violated his order. But an administration lawyer on Monday wouldn’t answer many of the judge’s questions, saying the judge had no right to the information.

A lawyer for the American Civil Liberties Union made a memorable comment during the court hearing earlier today examining whether the Trump administration simply ignored a judge’s order to halt the deportations of Venezuelan migrants to El Salvador.

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Lee Gelernt is the lead attorney for the plaintiffs in the legal case over Trump’s invocation of the Alien Enemies Act, which generated an order from US district judge James Boasberg’s telling the government to halt the deportations in question, and return any planes carrying the people being deported to the United States.

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Whether the Trump administration defied that order, and what will happen if the administration refuses to follow legal orders from the judiciary in this or other cases, is currently in question. After a lawyer for the administration refused to provide any details in court today, citing national security concerns, Boasberg has ordered the administration to answer a series of questions about the deportations by noon tomorrow.

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ACLU Lee Gelernt to a judge over the Trump admin's response to Judge Boasberg's order:

"There has been a lot of talk the last couple of weeks about a constitutional crisis. I think we’re getting very close to that."

— Adam Klasfeld (@KlasfeldReports) March 17, 2025

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Employees of Elon Musk’s “department of government efficiency” have entered the US Institute of Peace despite protests from the non-profit that it is not part of the executive branch and is instead an independent agency, the Associated Press reports.

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Meanwhile, the New York Times reports that Musk’s employees entered the nonprofit “with the help of Washington’s Metropolitan Police Department”, citing a phone call with Sophia Lin, a lawyer for the institute.

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Per the New York Times: “Lin said that the U.S. Institute for Peace called the D.C. police on the Musk team members in an effort to stop them from trespassing because the institute has control of its own building and the land it sits on. But instead, the D.C. police allowed them to enter and kicked out the institute’s officials.”

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We’ll share more information on this situation as it develops.

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As the courtroom drama over the deportation flights built in the US today, so did international fallout over the deportations, the Associated Press reports:

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Venezuela’s government on Monday characterized the transfer of Venezuelan migrants to El Salvador as “kidnappings” that it plans to challenge as “crimes against humanity” before the United Nations and other international organizations. It also accused the Central American nation of profiting off the plights of Venezuelan migrants.

n “They are not detaining them, they are kidnapping them and expelling them,” Jorge Rodriguez, President Nicolas Maduro’s chief negotiator with the US, told reporters Monday.

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Reuters had some additional details on the reaction from Venezuelan officials, some of which we noted earlier today:

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Venezuelans deported over the weekend to El Salvador by the United States have been denied due process, the president of Venezuela’s National Assembly, Jorge Rodriguez, said on Monday.

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Speaking at a press conference, Rodriguez said the people deported were not known to have committed any crimes in the United States or El Salvador, and that Venezuela would do everything it can to have them returned home. The Trump administration says those deported belong to the Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan gang that has been linked to kidnapping, extortion and contract killings.

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Of the more than 600 migrants who have been returned to Venezuela from the United States and Mexico on deportation flights since February, just 16 were facing some sort of judicial process and none were members of the Tren de Aragua, Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello said on state television.

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Donald Trump is revoking Secret Service protection for former president Joe Biden’s children Hunter Biden and Ashley Biden.

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Trump made the announcement in a post on Truth Social, Reuters reports:

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“Hunter Biden has had Secret Service protection for an extended period of time, all paid for by the United States Taxpayer,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social.

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“Please be advised that, effective immediately, Hunter Biden will no longer receive Secret Service protection. Likewise, Ashley Biden who has 13 agents will be taken off the list,” Trump added.

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Trump’s announcement came hours after a reporter asked Trump about Hunter Biden’s Secret Service detail. The president said he had not been aware of it but would look into it.

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My Guardian colleagues will have more on this soon, but the Associated Press has a quick and useful overview of what happened:

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A federal judge on Monday was incredulous at the contention by the Trump administration that his directive to turn around deportation flights wasn’t binding because it was made verbally.

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District court Judge James Boasberg made the demand Saturday night as he temporarily halted deportations under wartime powers President Donald Trump had declared minutes earlier under a rarely used 18th century law. But planes were already en route to El Salvador.

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The plaintiffs in the lawsuit asked Boasberg to determine if the administration violated his order. But an administration lawyer on Monday wouldn’t answer many of the judge’s questions, saying the judge had no right to the information.

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A high-stakes hearing over whether the Trump administration simply ignored a judge’s order to turn around its flights deporting alleged Venezuelan gang members has ended, multiple news outlets are reporting.

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US district judge James Boasberg said he would not make any rulings today about whether the Trump administration violated his order, but has asked the administration to “tell him by noon on Tuesday exactly what time it believes his order stopping the deportation flights went into effect on Saturday”, the New York Times’ Alan Feuer reports.

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Politico’s Kyle Cheney characterized Boasberg as “incredulous” in response to some of the Trump administration lawyer’s arguments that Boasberg’s order had no power outside of US airspace.

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The hearing is over. Boasberg was incredulous that DOJ claimed he had no authority to order the plane to turn around just because it crossed out of US airspace — something he said was well-established in many contexts.

He wants details about whether DOJ openly defied his order…

— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) March 17, 2025

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The standoff between the Trump administration and the judiciary hinges in part over the Trump administration’s argument that it had to comply only with Judge James Boasberg’s written order that the deportation flights needed to be turned around, not the order he made aloud at a hearing.

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Per my colleague Hugo Lowell:

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DOJ says they think they complied with written order. They say Boasberg only said the planes needed to be turned around in oral statements at the hearing, and not in the written order, and "oral statements are not injunctions"

— Hugo Lowell (@hugolowell) March 17, 2025

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Boasberg responded by calling the Trump administration’s attempt to differentiate between his oral and written arguments “a heck of a stretch”.

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Boasberg is unimpressed: "You felt that you could disregard it because it wasn't in the written order. That's your first argument? The idea that because my written order was pithier so it could be disregarded, that's one heck of a stretch I think"

— Hugo Lowell (@hugolowell) March 17, 2025

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As my colleague Hugo Lowell reports, the Trump administration is now seeking to remove Judge James Boasberg from the deportation flights case, a further escalation in what legal experts are calling a “potential constitutional clash between Trump and judiciary”.

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New: The Trump admin is asking the DC Circuit to kick Chief US district judge James Boasberg off the deportations case, complaining that he improperly turned it into a class action suit and that they cannot "and will not" be forced to answer nat sec questions at today's hearing

— Hugo Lowell (@hugolowell) March 17, 2025

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DOJ DAAG Drew Ensign: "The Government cannot—and will not—be forced to answer sensitive questions of national security and foreign relations in a rushed posture without orderly briefing… Answering them, especially on the proposed timetable, is flagrantly improper"

— Hugo Lowell (@hugolowell) March 17, 2025

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Ensign: "This Court should also immediately reassign this case to another district court judge given the highly unusual and improper procedures—e.g. certification of a class action involving members of a designated foreign terrorist organization" https://t.co/JBTuJeQoRu

— Hugo Lowell (@hugolowell) March 17, 2025

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US district judge James Boasberg has denied the Trump administration’s legal filing this afternoon asking cancel a planned 5pm hearing in which he has asked the administration’s lawyers to explain why his Saturday order temporarily blocking the deportation flights had apparently been ignored.

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The Trump administration’s Monday filing, which argued that the hearing should be cancelled, said that the administration’s lawyers had no further information that they were authorized to share, and described cancelling the hearing as a way to “de-escalate the grave incursions on Executive Branch authority that have already arisen”.

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The New York Times characterized the filing as a “brazen display of defiance”.

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Several legal experts interviewed by Reuters have described the deportation flights as a direct challenge to the judicial branch’s independence, setting up a potential constitutional clash between the executive branch and the American judiciary.

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Lawyers for the administration of Donald Trump argued that a judge’s oral order blocking the deportation of more than 200 alleged Venezuelan gang members was “not enforceable”, according to a court filing on Monday, Reuters reports.

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In the filing, the Trump administration also argued that a 5pm hearing on the dispute today should be cancelled, because “plaintiffs cannot use these proceedings to interfere with the President’s national-security and foreign-affairs authority, and the Court lacks jurisdiction to do so.”

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The New York Times characterized the Trump administration’s filing as a “brazen display of defiance”, noting that “the Justice Department had filed papers less than two hours before the 5 p.m. hearing was to be held,” in which district judge James E Boasberg was demanding an explanation from the Trump administration about why his Saturday order order temporarily blocking the deportation flights had apparently been ignored.

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The Trump administration is facing a backlash for flying undocumented migrants suspected of being part of a Venezuelan gang out of the country, despite a judge’s order to halt the deportation while court proceedings play out. At her briefing today, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt called the removals a “counter-terrorism operation” and argued they had technically complied with the judge’s instructions at the time they were delivered. Advocacy groups representing some of the deportees disagreed, saying they were “extremely concerned” that the White House had defied the court’s orders. A hearing scheduled for 5pm may reveal more. Donald Trump busied himself with sending threats to Iran and visiting the Kennedy Center, where he promised to make Washington DC “great again”.

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Here’s what else has happened today:

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Chuck Schumer, the Democratic senate minority leader, has reportedly canceled a book tour as he faces protests for providing votes crucial to the passage of a Republican spending bill.

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Trump said Joe Biden’s pardon of January 6 committee lawmakers was “void”, and Leavitt later said, without evidence, that the former president may not have been of sound mind when he gave it.

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The director of Project 2025is very happy with the Trump administration’s decisions so far.

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Last week was a rough one for Democrats in Congress. The bad times began when Republicans moved ahead with a bill to authorize more government funding ahead of a Friday shutdown deadline, leaving the minority party, which objected to funding cuts in the legislation, in a pickle as to what to do.

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House Democrats objected to the measure almost unanimously, but the real question was how Democratic senators would react, given that the bill needed at least eight of their votes to pass. Much of the caucus wanted to reject the legislation, but minority leader Chuck Schumer unexpectedly threw his support behind the measure, luring just enough Democrats for it to pass.

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Schumer’s decision enraged many in his party, to the point that he is now the target of protests by liberal activists who believe he needlessly sacrificed leverage he could have used to stand up to the Trump administration. The New York Times reports that Schumer has opted to cancel a public speaking tour to promote a new book, citing “security concerns”:

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Mr. Schumer was scheduled to participate in promotional events in Atlanta, Washington, Baltimore, Philadelphia and New York, as well as a few stops in California, for his new book, “Antisemitism in America: A Warning.” Many Democratic activists, desperate for their leaders to stand up to President Trump, have been staging protests outside of Mr. Schumer’s Brooklyn home and calling for his resignation. Online, they have been organizing protests for every stop on his book tour.

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A spokeswoman for Mr. Schumer said that the tour was being rescheduled because of “security concerns.” But the move was immediately criticized by both the right and the left, who accused Mr. Schumer of being unwilling to face a restive public.

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“We hope other Democratic senators continue meeting with their constituents and demand that their leadership fight with backbone,” Adam Green, the co-founder of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, said in a statement.

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Since voting on Friday for the stopgap bill, Mr. Schumer has been defending his decision to stave off a government shutdown, which he has said was the less devastating of two bad options that Senate Democrats were presented with. “I’ll take some of the bullets,” Mr. Schumer said of the vitriol directed at him.

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“There is no off-ramp,” for a government shutdown, Mr. Schumer said in an interview Friday from his office just off the Senate floor. “The off-ramp is in the hands of Donald Trump and Elon Musk and DOGE. We could be in a shutdown for six months or nine months,” he said, referring to Mr. Musk’s cost-cutting team, the Department of Government Efficiency.

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White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt further rejected claims that the Trump administration illegally deported 250 immigrants suspected of belonging to a Venezuelan gang.

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“This administration acted within the confines of the law, again, within the president’s constitutional authority and under the authority granted to him under the Alien Enemies Act. We are quite confident in that, and we are wholly confident that we are going to win this case in court,” Leavitt said.

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She also said that, despite reports to the contrary, the planes carrying the deportees had already left when a federal judge ordered them not to depart, and to turn back if they already had:

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All of the planes that were subject to the written order, the judge’s written order, took off before the order was entered in the courtroom on Saturday, and the administration will, of course, be happily answering all of those questions that the judge poses in court later today.

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White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt gave the Trump administration’s version of events of the controversial deportation of undocumented immigrants suspected of belonging to a Venezuelan gang, describing it as “a counter-terrorism operation”.

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The deportation appeared to fly in the face of a federal judge’s order that the migrants not be removed from the United States while he considered the legality invoking the Alien Enemies Act to swiftly deport them.

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“President Trump signed a proclamation invoking the Alien Enemies Act regarding the invasion of the United States by the foreign terrorist organization, Tren de Aragua,” Leavitt said at a press briefing. “At the president’s direction, the Department of Homeland Security carried out a counter-terrorism operation deporting nearly 200 violent Tren de Aragua terrorists, which will save countless American lives.”

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After ordering a wave of military strikes against leaders of the Houthis in Yemen over the weekend, Donald Trump says he will in the future retaliate against Iran for any further attacks by the group.

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Iran has long supported the Houthis, who have stepped up attacks on commercial vessels off Yemen’s waters in retaliation for Israel’s invasion of Gaza. Here’s what the president wrote on Truth Social:

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Let nobody be fooled! The hundreds of attacks being made by Houthi, the sinister mobsters and thugs based in Yemen, who are hated by the Yemeni people, all emanate from, and are created by, IRAN. Any further attack or retaliation by the “Houthis” will be met with great force, and there is no guarantee that that force will stop there. Iran has played “the innocent victim” of rogue terrorists from which they’ve lost control, but they haven’t lost control. They’re dictating every move, giving them the weapons, supplying them with money and highly sophisticated Military equipment, and even, so-called, “Intelligence.” Every shot fired by the Houthis will be looked upon, from this point forward, as being a shot fired from the weapons and leadership of IRAN, and IRAN will be held responsible, and suffer the consequences, and those consequences will be dire!

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Rallies in Yemen following the US attacks have brought tens of thousands of people out on to the streets. We have a live blog covering the reaction, and you can read it here:

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Federal judge James Boasberg has scheduled a 5pm hearing for the Trump administration to explain if they defied his order not to deport undocumented immigrants suspected of belonging to a Venezuelan gang.

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Planes carrying the migrants arrived in El Salvador after Boasberg’s order, and attorneys for some of those deported have argued that it appears the administration willingly defied his instruction that they turn back or refrain from departing the United States. Top administration officials said they disagreed with Boasberg’s order, with some reportedly arguing that it did not apply to the aircraft because they were in international airspace when it was handed down.

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Democracy Forward and the American Civil Liberties Union, who are representing a group of Venezuelans that Donald Trump ordered deported under the Alien Enemies Act, told a federal judge they fear that the government violated his order to keep the migrants in the country while he weighs their case.

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In a motion filed today, the two rights groups point to evidence that the government allowed planes carrying alleged gang members, most of whom are from Venezuela, to depart for or continue flying to Central American countries even after federal judge James Boasberg said they should turn back.

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“Plaintiffs remain extremely concerned that, regardless of which time is used, the government may have violated the Court’s command,” attorneys for the two groups wrote. They continued:

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The government states that “some gang members subject to removal under the Proclamation had already been removed from United States territory under the Proclamation before the issuance of this Court’s second order … That phrasing strongly suggests that the government has chosen to treat this Court’s Order as applying only to individuals still on U.S. soil or on flights that had yet to clear U.S. airspace as of 7:26pm (the time of the written order). If that is how the government proceeded, it was a blatant violation of the Court’s Order.

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Boasberg is expected to this morning further consider the case in Washington DC federal court.

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Donald Trump, once again posting on social media in the early morning hours, said Joe Biden’s last-minute pardons of lawmakers on the January 6 committee are invalid because the outgoing president did not sign them personally.

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Trump said Biden signed the order by Autopen, as presidents often do, but in this case, it’s invalid. From his Truth Social account:

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The “Pardons” that Sleepy Joe Biden gave to the Unselect Committee of Political Thugs, and many others, are hereby declared VOID, VACANT, AND OF NO FURTHER FORCE OR EFFECT, because of the fact that they were done by Autopen. In other words, Joe Biden did not sign them but, more importantly, he did not know anything about them! The necessary Pardoning Documents were not explained to, or approved by, Biden. He knew nothing about them, and the people that did may have committed a crime. Therefore, those on the Unselect Committee, who destroyed and deleted ALL evidence obtained during their two year Witch Hunt of me, and many other innocent people, should fully understand that they are subject to investigation at the highest level. The fact is, they were probably responsible for the Documents that were signed on their behalf without the knowledge or consent of the Worst President in the History of our Country, Crooked Joe Biden!

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The pardons of the House lawmakers who investigated the attack on the Capitol were one of Biden’s final actions in office, and came after months of threats from Trump to investigate them:

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The Trump administration is facing a number of legal battles after controversial deportations led to court orders and accusations of defying the judiciary.

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In Massachusetts this morning, judge Leo Sorokin will demand answers regarding the deportation of Dr Rasha Alawieh, a 34-year-old Rhode Island-based kidney specialist.

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Alawieh, who was reportedly holding a valid US visa, was sent back to Lebanon on Friday, despite a court order requiring 48 hours’ notice before any deportation. Her legal team claims Customs and Border Protection wilfully ignored the judge’s directive, Politico reported.

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Judge Sorokin, who issued the temporary order on Thursday, has asked for an explanation in today’s hearing, calling the allegations of contempt “serious”. Alawieh’s attorneys have provided a detailed timeline supporting their claims, which could lead to further legal repercussions.

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Meanwhile, in Washington DC, a federal judge has accused the White House of disregarding his order to halt the deportation of two planeloads of Venezuelans to an El Salvador prison.

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The deportations are part of Trump’s wider crackdown on foreign nationals, which included invoking the rarely used Alien Enemies Act, a move last implemented as part of wartime measures.

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Despite the court order, the White House insisted that the flights had already left US airspace by the time it was issued, a position that legal experts are querying. Both cases now appear headed for the supreme court.

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President Donald Trump said he has no intention of creating exemptions on steel and aluminum tariffs and said reciprocal and sectoral tariffs will be imposed on 2 April.

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Last month, Trump raised tariffs on imports of steel and aluminum to a flat 25%, without exemptions or exceptions, in a move that was designed to help US industry while contributing to an escalating trade war, Reuters reported.

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Speaking to reporters on Air Force One, Trump said reciprocal duties on US trading partners would come alongside auto duties.

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“In certain cases, both,” Trump said when asked if he would be imposing sectoral and reciprocal tariffs on 2 April. “They charge us, and we charge them. Then, in addition to that, on autos, on steel, on aluminum, we’re going to have some additional,” he said.

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Trump has said previously that he would impose reciprocal tariffs on US friends and foes alike at the beginning of April.

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The US deported more than 250 mainly Venezuelan alleged gang members to El Salvador despite a US judge’s ruling to halt the flights on Saturday after Donald Trump controversially invoked the Alien Enemies Act, a 1798 law meant only to be used in wartime.

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El Salvador’s president, Nayib Bukele, said 238 members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua and 23 members of the Salvadoran gang MS-13 had arrived and were in custody as part of a deal under which the US will pay the Central American country to hold them in its 40,000-person capacity “terrorism confinement centre”.

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The confirmation came hours after a US federal judge expanded his ruling temporarily blocking the Trump administration from invoking the Alien Enemies Act, a wartime authority that allows the president broad leeway on policy and executive action to speed up mass deportations.

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The White House said the judge had no authority to block the deportation.

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“A single judge in a single city cannot direct the movements of an aircraft … full of foreign alien terrorists who were physically expelled from US soil,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement.

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She said the court had “no lawful basis”.

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The US district judge James Boasberg had attempted to halt the deportations for all individuals deemed eligible for removal under Trump’s proclamation, which was issued on Friday. Boasberg also ordered deportation flights already in the air to return to the US.

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“Oopsie … Too late,” Bukele posted online, followed by a laughing emoji.

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Soon after Bukele’s statement, the US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, thanked El Salvador’s leader.

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Good morning and welcome to the US politics live blog. I’m Tom Ambrose and I will be bringing you all the latest news over the next few hours.

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We start with news that president Donald Trump will visit the John F Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts on Monday after ousting its leadership, taking over as chair, and seeking to put his stamp on the renowned arts institution.

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Trump will preside over a Kennedy Center board meeting in his new role on Monday afternoon, Reuters reported.

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“We have to straighten it out,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One after spending the weekend in Florida, referring to an arts organization that has enjoyed bipartisan support for decades.

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Last month Trump became chair of the Kennedy Center and fired its longtime president, Deborah Rutter. He installed his former ambassador to Germany, Richard Grenell, as interim president.

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Vice-president JD Vance and his wife, Usha, who is now a member of the board, attended a recent performance at the Kennedy Center. After they entered the theater, the crowd booed.

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In other news:

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President Donald Trump has said he has no intention of creating exemptions on steel and aluminum tariffs and said reciprocal and sectoral tariffs will be imposed on 2 April. Last month, Trump raised tariffs on imports of steel and aluminum to a flat 25%, without exemptions or exceptions, in a move that was designed to help US industry while contributing to an escalating trade war, Reuters reported. Speaking to reporters on Air Force One, Trump said reciprocal duties on US trading partners would come alongside auto duties.

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As Trump and Putin prepare to speak, there have been concerns that the settlement being pushed for by the Trump administration would look a lot like an outright Russian victory, at the expense of Ukraine and its allies in Europe. Trump and Putin last week set off further alarm bells in Kyiv by exchanging friendly words, as the new US administration cosies up to Moscow while attacking Ukraine with threatening language and the withdrawal of some military support.

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For weeks, Donald Trump and Republicans have insisted that social security, Medicaid or Medicare would not “be touched”. Now Musk has suggested the programs would be a primary target.

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The US defense department webpage celebrating an army general who served in the Vietnam war and was awarded the country’s highest military decoration has been removed and the letters “DEI” added to the site’s address. On Saturday, US army Maj Gen Charles Calvin Rogers’s Medal of Honor webpage led to a “404” error message. The URL was also changed, with the word “medal” changed to “deimedal”.

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Federal employees in a little-known office dedicated to tech and consulting services were at work on the afternoon of 3 February when Elon Musk tweeted about their agency for the first time. “That group has been deleted,” Musk wrote.

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Trump’s administration is being accused by activists of a quid pro quo as it attempts to fast-track a controversial fossil fuel pipeline proposal in Michigan that would in part be built by a donor with deep financial ties to the president.

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Trump’s second term is more direct, determined and intentional, and includes the cultural equivalent of precision airstrikes against the mostly liberal residents of Washington DC, the Guardian’s David Smith writes.

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Trump on Saturday invoked the Alien Enemies Act for the first time since the second world war, granting himself sweeping powers under a centuries-old law to deport people associated with a Venezuelan gang. Hours later, a federal judge halted deportations under the US president’s order. What is the Alien Enemies Act and can Trump use it to deport gang members?

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ACLU lawyer: ‘I think we’re getting very close’ to a constitutional crisis

ACLU Lee Gelernt to a judge over the Trump admin's response to Judge Boasberg's order:

"There has been a lot of talk the last couple of weeks about a constitutional crisis. I think we’re getting very close to that."

— Adam Klasfeld (@KlasfeldReports) March 17, 2025

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ACLU Lee Gelernt to a judge over the Trump admin’s response to Judge Boasberg’s order:

“There has been a lot of talk the last couple of weeks about a constitutional crisis. I think we’re getting very close to that.”

— Adam Klasfeld (@KlasfeldReports) March 17, 2025

Family members of missing Venezuelan migrants wonder if tattoos were a target

More from Reuters on the family members of Venezuelan migrants still searching for answers as they fear their loved ones were flown by the US government to a prison in El Salvador:

Solanyer Sarabia believes she saw her 19-year-old brother, Anyelo, among images shared online of the Venezuelans deported to El Salvador’s mega-prison. His head had been shaved and he was dressed in white prison garb.

Solanyer said an ICE officer told her that her brother was detained because of a tattoo that linked him to Tren de Aragua, a violent gang with Venezuelan prison origins that has spread through the Americas. She said the tattoo depicted a rose and that he had gotten it in a tattoo parlor in Dallas.

“He thought it looked cool, looked nice, it didn’t have any other significance,” she said, stressing that he is not a gang member.

Johanny Sanchez, 22, suspects her husband Franco Caraballo, 26, who was detained in Texas, could now be in El Salvador, but does not know for sure.

Caraballo had multiple tattoos including ones of roses, a clock with this daughter’s birth time, a lion and a shaving razor, said his wife.

“I’ve never seen him without hair, so I haven’t recognized him in the photos,” she said. “I just suspect he’s there because of the tattoos that he has and right now any Venezuelan man with tattoos is assumed to be a gang member”, she added, citing also the fact that he has effectively gone missing.

Sanchez said her husband has never been a member of Tren de Aragua.

ICE did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the two cases.

Relatives of missing Venezuelan migrants desperate for answers after US deportations

Family members of Venezuelan migrants who suspect their loved ones were sent to El Salvador as part of a rapid US deportation operation over the weekend are struggling to get more information as a fraught legal battle plays out, Reuters reports.

The Trump administration has provided few details so far on the identities of the Venezuelans deported to El Salvador, a move that the Trump administration has said is legally justified using the president’s authority under the 1798 Alien Enemies Act.

“It’s extremely disturbing that hundreds of people were flown on U.S. government planes to El Salvador and we still have no information on who they are, their attorneys were not notified and families are left excruciatingly in the dark,” said Lindsay Toczylowski, the executive director at the Immigrant Defenders Law Center.

Advocates have launched a WhatsApp helpline for people searching for family members, while immigration attorneys have tried to locate their clients after they went dark.

Abené Clayton

White House removes advisory defining gun violence as a public health issue

The Trump administration has removed former surgeon general Vivek Murthy’s advisory on gun violence as a public health issue from the US Department of Health and Human Services’ website. This move was made to comply with Donald Trump’s executive order to protect second amendment rights, a White House official told the Guardian.

The“firearm violence in America” page, where the advisory had been posted, was filled with data and information about the ripple effects of shootings, the prevalence of firearm suicides and the number of American children and adolescents who have been shot and killed. Now, when someone reaches the site they will be met with a “page not found” message.

What’s been ordered: more details on the next steps of the deportation flights case

In an escalating battle between the Trump administration’s justice department and the federal judiciary, a Trump administration lawyer refused this evening to answer many questions that US district judge James Boasberg asked about whether the administration had violated his order this weekend demanding that deportation flights be returned to the US.

The Trump administration is arguing that the details of the flights are national security secrets it does not have to disclose, perhaps even to the judge.

Here’s what Boasberg has ordered the Trump administration to do by noon on Tuesday. Note that the judge has made clear that part of this information may be “sealed”, or not available to the public.

…the Government shall file a Notice, which may, if necessary, be sealed in part, setting forth: 1) A sworn declaration that no one on any flight departing the United States after 7:25 p.m. on March 15, 2025, was removed solely on the basis of the Proclamation at issue; 2) A sworn declaration setting forth when the Proclamation at issue was signed, when it was made public, and when it went into effect; 3) The Government’s best estimate of the number of individuals subject to the Proclamation currently remaining in the United States and how many are currently in U.S. custody; and 4) The Government’s position on whether, and in what form, it will provide answers to the Court’s questions regarding the particulars of the flights. Such form could include in camera review or in a classified setting. If the Government takes the position that it will not provide that information to the Court under any circumstances, it must support such position, including with classified authorities if necessary.

It’s worth noting that Boasberg, a federal judge, previously served a seven-year term on the United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, according to his official biography. Boasberg was nominated for that role by the current chief justice of the supreme court, John Roberts. That role involves a higher level of security clearance and frequently working with “top secret” and sensitive government information.

More details on the conflict that led to ‘Doge has broken into our building’

As the CEO of the non-profit US Institute for Peace says that employees of Elon Musk’s “department of government efficiency” have “broken into our building”, Associated Press has more background on what’s happening, and on the dispute over the Institute of Peace’s legal status:

The DOGE workers gained access to the Institute of Peace building after several unsuccessful attempts Monday and after having been turned away on Friday, a senior US Institute of Peace official said. The official spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter.

It was not immediately clear what the DOGE staffers were doing or looking for in the nonprofit’s building, which is across the street from the State Department in the Foggy Bottom neighborhood.

President Donald Trump targeted the organization and a few others in a 19 February executive order that aims to shrink the size of the federal government. The administration has since moved to fire and cancel programs at some of those organizations.

DOGE has expressed interest in the U.S. Institute of Peace for weeks but has been rebuffed by lawyers who argued that the institute’s status protected it from the kind of reorganization that is occurring in other federal agencies.

On Friday, DOGE members arrived with two FBI agents, who left after the institute’s lawyer told them of USIP’s “private and independent status,” the organization said in a statement.

The US Institute of Peace says on its website that it’s a nonpartisan, independent organization “dedicated to protecting US interests by helping to prevent violent conflicts and broker peace deals abroad.”

The nonprofit says it was created by Congress in 1984 as an “independent nonprofit corporation,“ and it does not meet US Code definitions of “government corporation,” “government-controlled corporation” or “independent establishment.”

‘Doge has broken into our building,’ non-profit CEO says

We’ll share more information on this situation as it develops.

The president of a small US federal agency that invests in businesses in South America and the Caribbean has sued on Monday to block her firing last month by the Trump administration, the Associated Press reports:

After Sara Aviel was fired from the Inter-American Foundation, a Trump appointee declared himself the acting president and laid off almost the entire staff. Since then, the administration has canceled essentially all of the agency’s contracts.

“This wholesale gutting of the IAF by the Government flies in the face of the law,” Aviel said in her suit.

The Trump administration also targeted three other independent federal agencies for closure.

Venezuelan government calls deportation flights ‘kidnappings’, ‘crimes’

As the courtroom drama over the deportation flights built in the US today, so did international fallout over the deportations, the Associated Press reports:

Venezuela’s government on Monday characterized the transfer of Venezuelan migrants to El Salvador as “kidnappings” that it plans to challenge as “crimes against humanity” before the United Nations and other international organizations. It also accused the Central American nation of profiting off the plights of Venezuelan migrants.

“They are not detaining them, they are kidnapping them and expelling them,” Jorge Rodriguez, President Nicolas Maduro’s chief negotiator with the US, told reporters Monday.

Reuters had some additional details on the reaction from Venezuelan officials, some of which we noted earlier today:

Venezuelans deported over the weekend to El Salvador by the United States have been denied due process, the president of Venezuela’s National Assembly, Jorge Rodriguez, said on Monday.

Speaking at a press conference, Rodriguez said the people deported were not known to have committed any crimes in the United States or El Salvador, and that Venezuela would do everything it can to have them returned home. The Trump administration says those deported belong to the Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan gang that has been linked to kidnapping, extortion and contract killings.

Of the more than 600 migrants who have been returned to Venezuela from the United States and Mexico on deportation flights since February, just 16 were facing some sort of judicial process and none were members of the Tren de Aragua, Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello said on state television.

Trump revokes Secret Service protection for Hunter and Ashley Biden

Donald Trump is revoking Secret Service protection for former president Joe Biden’s children Hunter Biden and Ashley Biden.

Trump made the announcement in a post on Truth Social, Reuters reports:

“Hunter Biden has had Secret Service protection for an extended period of time, all paid for by the United States Taxpayer,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social.

“Please be advised that, effective immediately, Hunter Biden will no longer receive Secret Service protection. Likewise, Ashley Biden who has 13 agents will be taken off the list,” Trump added.

Trump’s announcement came hours after a reporter asked Trump about Hunter Biden’s Secret Service detail. The president said he had not been aware of it but would look into it.

Judge incredulous as administration contends verbal court order on deportation isn’t binding – report

My Guardian colleagues will have more on this soon, but the Associated Press has a quick and useful overview of what happened:

A federal judge on Monday was incredulous at the contention by the Trump administration that his directive to turn around deportation flights wasn’t binding because it was made verbally.

District court Judge James Boasberg made the demand Saturday night as he temporarily halted deportations under wartime powers President Donald Trump had declared minutes earlier under a rarely used 18th century law. But planes were already en route to El Salvador.

The plaintiffs in the lawsuit asked Boasberg to determine if the administration violated his order. But an administration lawyer on Monday wouldn’t answer many of the judge’s questions, saying the judge had no right to the information.

Trump administration officials continue their attacks on deportation flight judge

CNN reports: “White House deputy chief of staff for policy Stephen Miller today said the White House believes the Supreme Court will back its efforts to deport migrants.”

Earlier today, Miller attacked US district judge James Boasberg, who held a hearing today asking the Trump administration to explain whether it had simply ignored his order to turn around flights attempting to deport alleged Venezuelan gang members by invoking the Alien Enemies Act, a law from 1798 that is meant to be used during wartime.

Stephen Miller (@stephenm): "A district court judge has no authority to direct the national security operations of the executive branch. The president is operating at the apex of his authority…" pic.twitter.com/aautEE0WDx

— CSPAN (@cspan) March 17, 2025

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Stephen Miller (@stephenm): “A district court judge has no authority to direct the national security operations of the executive branch. The president is operating at the apex of his authority…” pic.twitter.com/aautEE0WDx

— CSPAN (@cspan) March 17, 2025

CSPAN has more on Miller’s comments:

Stephen Miller (@stephenm): "If a district court judge can be involved in the conduct of our foreign policy, under no definition do we have a democracy in this country we no longer have a democracy." pic.twitter.com/Qe6q8U6kT1

— CSPAN (@cspan) March 17, 2025

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Stephen Miller (@stephenm): “If a district court judge can be involved in the conduct of our foreign policy, under no definition do we have a democracy in this country we no longer have a democracy.” pic.twitter.com/Qe6q8U6kT1

— CSPAN (@cspan) March 17, 2025

As we noted earlier, the Trump administration also wrote a letter today asking the United States court of appeals for the District of Columbia to remove Boasberg from the case:

Ensign: "This Court should also immediately reassign this case to another district court judge given the highly unusual and improper procedures—e.g. certification of a class action involving members of a designated foreign terrorist organization" https://t.co/JBTuJeQoRu

— Hugo Lowell (@hugolowell) March 17, 2025

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Ensign: “This Court should also immediately reassign this case to another district court judge given the highly unusual and improper procedures—e.g. certification of a class action involving members of a designated foreign terrorist organization” https://t.co/JBTuJeQoRu

— Hugo Lowell (@hugolowell) March 17, 2025

Justice department must provide more details on deportation flights by noon on Tuesday

Politico’s Kyle Cheney characterized Boasberg as “incredulous” in response to some of the Trump administration lawyer’s arguments that Boasberg’s order had no power outside of US airspace.

The hearing is over. Boasberg was incredulous that DOJ claimed he had no authority to order the plane to turn around just because it crossed out of US airspace — something he said was well-established in many contexts.

He wants details about whether DOJ openly defied his order…

— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) March 17, 2025

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The hearing is over. Boasberg was incredulous that DOJ claimed he had no authority to order the plane to turn around just because it crossed out of US airspace — something he said was well-established in many contexts.

He wants details about whether DOJ openly defied his order…

— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) March 17, 2025

Could the Trump administration have responded to an order to turn around its deportation flights by complying with the order, and then taking legal action to appeal or modify it, Judge James Boasberg asks, rather “than say, ‘We don’t care.’”

Adam Klasfeld reporting from the deportation flights hearing just now:

Judge Boasberg presses the DOJ lawyer on what the government could have done with a ruling they believed to be unlawful: appeal or seek to modify it.

“Isn’t then the better course — to return the planes to the United States and figure out what to do, than say, ‘We don’t care;…

— Adam Klasfeld (@KlasfeldReports) March 17, 2025

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Judge Boasberg presses the DOJ lawyer on what the government could have done with a ruling they believed to be unlawful: appeal or seek to modify it.

“Isn’t then the better course — to return the planes to the United States and figure out what to do, than say, ‘We don’t care;…

— Adam Klasfeld (@KlasfeldReports) March 17, 2025

CNN similarly reports that Boasberg has characterized the justice department’s reasoning in response to his order as “‘We don’t care, we’ll do what we want.’”

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