SPANK!! A VERY ANNOYED JUDGE BOASBERG ORDERS THE ADMINISTRATION TO BRING BACK ILLEGALLY DEPORTED VENEZUELANS WHO WISH TO RETURN TO THE U.S.
You remember this case, it’s the “Planes in the Air” case which was first filed, yes, almost exactly a year ago. That’s when Judge James Boasberg learned that the administration had put a bunch of Venezuelan immigrants on airplanes bound for the notorious CECOT prison in El Salvador, and Judge Boasberg *ordered them to turn the planes around*.
They didn’t, arguing that by then the planes were outside of the Court’s jurisdiction (however they did halt a plane that had not yet taken off).
Then came the infamous related case of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who was among those sent to CECOT but who had an order in place specifically saying that the *one* place to which he could *not* be deported was El Salvador.
[In case you’re not caught up on what’s going on with Kilmar Abrego Garcia, you can read my three articles (complete with all documents) about his case here:
About his release and current situation: https://annepmitchell.substack.com/p/about-kilmar-abrego-garcias-release
The transcript of the hearing that led to his release: https://annepmitchell.substack.com/p/i-have-the-actual-transcript-of-the
The Court’s order dealing with the administration’s vindictive prosecution of Abrego Garcia: https://annepmitchell.substack.com/p/court-reveals-order-dealing-with ]
Ok, back to today’s order:
Of the 137 Venezuelans sent to CECOT, many had filed Habeas Corpus petitions through their attorneys (remember that Habeas Corpus literally means “you have the body” and you need to bring it before the Court). In other words, they were requesting that the Court order that the men be brought to court, where the Court could, they would hope, assist them.
In the interim, the Venezuelans had been released from CECOT and either sent back to Venezuela in a prisoner swap, or to third countries.
Now you’re essentially caught up, other than to say that some of these Venezuelans want to return to the U.S. to continue to have their original asylum or other claims processed, *even though they know that they will be taken into custody again as soon as they set foot in the U.S.*.
And today Judge Boasberg ordered the administration to facilitate their return, on the administration’s dime.
Said Judge Boasberg in his 7-page order (included for Notes from the Front members) (be sure you don’t have any food or drink in your mouth as you read this):
“The Court offered the Government the opportunity to propose steps that would facilitate hearings for the class members on their habeas corpus claims so that they could “challenge their designations under the [Alien Enemies Act] and the validity of the [President’s] Proclamation.” Id. Apparently not interested in participating in this process, the Government’s responses essentially told the Court to pound sand.”
Yes, “pound sand” is a legal term. I actually snorted out loud when I read that!
The Court goes on:
“Believing that other courses would be both more productive and in line with the Supreme Court’s requirements outlined in Noem v. Abrego Garcia, the Court will now order the Government to facilitate the return from third countries of those Plaintiffs who so desire. It will also permit other Plaintiffs to file their habeas supplements from abroad.”
The Court then orders the government to “promptly return to Plaintiffs upon written request by their current counsel all passports and identification documents that any agency currently retains, and it shall make good-faith efforts to obtain any of Plaintiffs’ passports or identification documents that were transferred to El Salvador.”
And I’m sure that he also said, under his breath of course, that the government in general, and Noem in particular, should go pound sand.
Notes from the Front members: Judge Boasberg’s order is in your inbox now.
If you’re not yet a Notes from the Front member, you can join below and help me with my efforts to store and preserve original source documents before they can be tampered with. I make these documents, which I often pay for out of my own pocket, privately available to Notes from the Front members, including the Epstein files which I grab as soon as they are dropped and which I store for our members on our private dropbox (which I also pay for out of my own pocket). And hey! Bonus! You get to join our *private* chat where we discuss these things with each other!
You can join below for immediate access to this and *all* of the other documents I’ve shared since the beginning, our private dropbox, and our private chat for $5 a month.
https://annepmitchell.substack.com/p/spank-a-very-annoyed-judge-boasberg
Source