A federal judge ordered two deportation flights to turn around, but the Trump administration ignored the instruction. According to flight data, none of the planes landed in El Salvador before the judge’s order was given, and one plane did not even leave American soil until after the order was posted online.
The judge’s verbal order told government officials to inform their clients that the planes should turn around if they were carrying people being removed under an executive order. However, the administration continued with the flights despite the order.
Instead, more than 200 migrants were sent to El Salvador on three planes, including alleged gang members. The administration argued that some of these cases were not covered by the judge’s order and did not need to be returned.
However, a New York Times review of flight data shows that one plane had not yet taken off at the time of the verbal order, and another was over international waters when it departed. Another plane landed in El Salvador before the written order was posted online.
The White House press secretary said that the administration followed only the judge’s written order, but this explanation does not account for the third flight that took off after the order was posted.
A court hearing on Monday revealed that the Justice Department lawyer argued that the verbal and written orders were different, and that the administration did not violate the order. However, Judge Boasberg disagreed, saying that there is no difference between a verbal and written order in this case.
Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/17/us/politics/timeline-trump-deportation-flights-el-salvador.html