The lawsuits over U.S. deportations to El Salvador’s CECOT prison include a class action challenging the use of the Alien Enemies Act, a wrongful-deportation case that reached the Supreme Court, a federal tort claim by a former detainee, and a coalition suit targeting the U.S.–El Salvador agreement itself. Together they have produced a Supreme Court ruling, a due process order, a dismissed contempt inquiry, and a whistleblower complaint, with the central constitutional questions still unresolved as of mid-2026.
What the Deportations Were
Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced on February 4, 2025, that the United States had reached an arrangement with El Salvador’s government under President Nayib Bukele to accept and detain deportees from the U.S. regardless of nationality.1Democrats – Foreign Affairs. Meeks, Castro Send Letter to Rubio Demanding Answers on El Salvador Agreement El Salvador agreed to receive up to 300 individuals alleged to be members of Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan group, and hold them for one year, with the U.S. paying roughly $20,000 per detainee for a total of about $6 million.2Context News. Inside Trump’s $6M Deportee Deal With El Salvador Mega Prison
On March 15, 2025, President Trump signed a proclamation invoking the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 and declaring Tren de Aragua a “hybrid criminal state” conducting an invasion of the United States.3ABC News. Judge Orders Trump Administration Facilitate Return of Venezuelans Deported That same day, two planes carrying more than 200 Venezuelan men flew to El Salvador, where they were placed in the Centro de Confinamiento del Terrorismo. A March 31 flight added more detainees, bringing the total above 250.2Context News. Inside Trump’s $6M Deportee Deal With El Salvador Mega Prison After their release, former detainees described beatings, prolonged isolation, and incommunicado confinement. Cristosal, a Salvadoran human rights group, reported that after checking the records of 160 of the transferred Venezuelans, fewer than 10 percent had criminal records.4NPR. Venezuelans Deported to El Salvador Mega Prison Tell of Brutal Abuse
Those circumstances became the foundation for every lawsuit that followed.
J.G.G. v. Trump: The ACLU Class Action
The ACLU filed J.G.G. v. Trump in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, assigned to Chief Judge James Boasberg. The plaintiffs argued that using the Alien Enemies Act to deport Venezuelan men without individual hearings violated their constitutional right to due process.5ACLU. J.G.G. v. Trump
The Defied Restraining Order
On March 15, 2025, as the deportation flights were loading, Judge Boasberg issued a temporary restraining order to stop the removals.6ACLU DC. J.G.G. v. Trump — Challenging Unlawful Use of Alien Enemies Act The government proceeded anyway, later arguing the oral instructions were “defective.”3ABC News. Judge Orders Trump Administration Facilitate Return of Venezuelans Deported The planes landed in El Salvador with their passengers aboard.
On April 7, 2025, the Supreme Court stayed the restraining order, holding that challenges to the Alien Enemies Act should be brought as habeas corpus petitions in the district of confinement.5ACLU. J.G.G. v. Trump On April 19, the Court issued an additional order directing the government not to remove any members of the putative class from the United States, effectively halting further flights.6ACLU DC. J.G.G. v. Trump — Challenging Unlawful Use of Alien Enemies Act
The Due Process Ruling
On June 4, 2025, Judge Boasberg granted a preliminary injunction requiring the government to facilitate the class’s ability to seek habeas relief.5ACLU. J.G.G. v. Trump On December 22, 2025, he issued a broader ruling: the administration had violated the deported men’s due process rights, the men were a certified class, and the United States had retained “constructive custody” over them while they were in CECOT. Moving people to another country did not relieve the government of its constitutional obligations.7ABC News. Judge Orders Administration to Submit Plans to Return Migrants Deported Whatever the status of the Alien Enemies Act, the court held, the individuals were entitled to a “meaningful opportunity” to contest their removal and prove they were not gang members.8Houston Public Media. Federal Judge Says U.S. Must Give Due Process to Deported Venezuelans
The judge ordered the administration to submit plans by January 5, 2026, for providing hearings or facilitating the men’s return. The government said it would appeal, calling the order one with “no basis in law.”8Houston Public Media. Federal Judge Says U.S. Must Give Due Process to Deported Venezuelans In February 2026, Judge Boasberg ordered the government to facilitate the return of class members who wished to pursue their claims, including by providing travel documents and granting parole into U.S. custody.9Miami Herald. Judge Orders Return of Deported Venezuelans
The Contempt Inquiry
Judge Boasberg found probable cause to hold the administration in criminal contempt for defying the March 15 restraining order, and he ordered two government lawyers who had been on the line during the original hearing to appear for live testimony.10The Hill. Trump Administration Migrant Flights Contempt On April 14, 2026, a panel of the D.C. Circuit granted the government a writ of mandamus, ruling that the contempt investigation was an improper “judicial intrusion into Executive Branch decisionmaking” and that the original restraining order had not been sufficiently clear and specific to support a criminal contempt charge.11U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. J.G.G. v. Trump, Contempt Mandamus Opinion The government lawyers never testified. A petition for rehearing en banc was filed on May 5, 2026, and the case remains open.5ACLU. J.G.G. v. Trump
The Abrego Garcia Case
Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, a Maryland resident from El Salvador, was deported to El Salvador on March 15, 2025, and placed in CECOT despite a 2019 immigration court order barring his removal to that country based on a “clear probability of future persecution.”12Supreme Court of the United States. Noem v. Abrego Garcia The government later acknowledged his removal as an “administrative error.”13ABC News. Timeline of the Wrongful Deportation of Kilmar Abrego Garcia
U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis in Maryland ordered the government to facilitate his return by April 7, 2025. On April 10, in a unanimous ruling, the Supreme Court vacated the specific deadline but left the rest of Judge Xinis’s order intact, directing the government to “facilitate” Abrego Garcia’s release from Salvadoran custody.12Supreme Court of the United States. Noem v. Abrego Garcia
The government brought him back to the United States on June 6, 2025, but presented El Salvador with an arrest warrant for alleged human smuggling and took him to Tennessee to face criminal charges. He pleaded not guilty on June 13. On May 22, 2026, Judge Waverly Crenshaw dismissed the case, ruling that the government had failed to rebut the “presumption of vindictiveness.”13ABC News. Timeline of the Wrongful Deportation of Kilmar Abrego Garcia
After the criminal case collapsed, the administration moved to deport Abrego Garcia to third countries, including Uganda and later Liberia. He has said he would accept deportation to Costa Rica, which indicated it would take him as a refugee, but the government has refused.14Al Jazeera. Trump Administration Reaffirms Plans to Deport Abrego Garcia to Liberia Judge Xinis has kept injunctions in place blocking his re-arrest and requiring the government to secure guarantees that he will not be returned to El Salvador.15Yahoo News. Federal Judge Lets Injunctions Against Deportation of Abrego Garcia Stand The case is at a stalemate.
Leon Rengel v. United States
On March 24, 2026, Neiyerver Adrián Leon Rengel, a 28-year-old Venezuelan former CECOT detainee, filed a $1.3 million lawsuit against the United States under the Federal Tort Claims Act in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.16CBS News. CECOT Prison Lawsuit Neiyerver Adrian Leon Rengel The case, assigned to Chief Judge Boasberg, carries the docket number 1:26-cv-01008.17Civil Rights Litigation Clearinghouse. Leon Rengel v. United States
According to the complaint, ICE officers arrested Leon Rengel on March 13, 2025, and identified him as a Tren de Aragua member based on his tattoos, a designation he disputes. He was deported under the Alien Enemies Act despite a pending immigration court hearing scheduled for 2028 and an active application for Temporary Protected Status.18NBC News. Venezuelan Immigrant Sent to El Salvador CECOT Prison Files Lawsuit His claims include false imprisonment and intentional infliction of emotional distress, with allegations that he was beaten, denied medical care, and held incommunicado for four months.19ABC News. Venezuelan Migrant Sues Trump Administration Over Deportation to Notorious CECOT
The Department of Homeland Security has maintained that Leon Rengel is a “confirmed associate of the Tren de Aragua gang” and said it stands behind the intelligence underlying his identification.19ABC News. Venezuelan Migrant Sues Trump Administration Over Deportation to Notorious CECOT Leon Rengel was released from CECOT on July 18, 2025, as part of a prisoner swap in which the Venezuelan detainees were flown to Venezuela in exchange for 10 U.S. nationals held there.20CNN. Venezuela US Prisoner Swap The government filed a motion to dismiss on May 28, 2026, and Leon Rengel’s response is due by June 15, 2026.17Civil Rights Litigation Clearinghouse. Leon Rengel v. United States
RFK Human Rights v. Department of State
A separate lawsuit targeted the arrangement itself. On June 5, 2025, a coalition filed Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights et al. v. U.S. Department of State in the D.C. district court, seeking to have the U.S.–El Salvador agreement declared unlawful and set aside.21Democracy Forward. SV US Agreement Lawsuit The plaintiffs were Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights, the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, the Immigrant Defenders Law Center, Immigration Equality, and the California Collaborative for Immigrant Justice, represented by Democracy Forward.22Courthouse News Service. State Department Faces Lawsuit Over Migrant Detention Agreement With El Salvador
The complaint alleged the agreement violated the Administrative Procedure Act as arbitrary and beyond the State Department’s authority, along with the First, Fifth, Sixth, and Eighth Amendments. It also invoked the United Nations Convention Against Torture, arguing that transferring people to a facility where detainees faced documented torture amounted to prohibited rendition.21Democracy Forward. SV US Agreement Lawsuit Court records show the case was terminated on March 26, 2026, though filings continued through at least May 13, 2026.23CourtListener. Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights v. Department of State
The Whistleblower Complaint
In June 2025, Erez Reuveni, the former Acting Deputy Director of the Justice Department’s Office of Immigration Litigation, filed a 35-page whistleblower complaint with Congress and the DOJ Inspector General. Reuveni, a federal attorney with nearly 15 years of service, alleged that senior officials deliberately defied court orders to get the March 2025 flights off the ground.24Senate Judiciary Committee. Protected Whistleblower Disclosure of Erez Reuveni
The complaint alleged that Emil Bove, the principal associate deputy attorney general, told lawyers at a March 14, 2025, meeting that “the planes needed to take off no matter what” and that the DOJ “would need to consider telling the courts ‘f— you.'”25Al Jazeera. US Whistleblower Accuses Trump Officials of Willfully Ignoring Court Orders Reuveni also appeared before Judge Xinis on April 4, 2025, and told the court that Abrego Garcia’s deportation had been a mistake, then refused orders to file a brief misrepresenting those facts. He was placed on administrative leave the next day and fired on April 11.24Senate Judiciary Committee. Protected Whistleblower Disclosure of Erez Reuveni
Attorney General Pam Bondi dismissed him publicly as a “disgruntled employee” making “false claims,” and Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche denied that anyone had suggested ignoring a court order. Reuveni filed an appeal with the Merit Systems Protection Board alleging his termination violated the Whistleblower Protection Act and indicated his willingness to testify before Congress.10The Hill. Trump Administration Migrant Flights Contempt
The “Legal No Man’s Land”
A recurring obstacle in every CECOT case has been the question of who held legal custody of the detainees. In U.S. courts, the administration argued it could not return the men because they were under El Salvador’s authority. El Salvador told the United Nations the opposite: it had “no legal authority” over them and “the jurisdiction and legal responsibility for these persons lie exclusively with the competent foreign authorities,” meaning the United States. Federal judges warned that this dual disavowal had created a “legal no man’s land” where detainees could not challenge their imprisonment in either country’s courts.26Democracy Docket. El Salvador Contradicts Trump, No Authority Over Venezuelans
Cristosal assisted relatives in filing 76 habeas corpus petitions before the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court of El Salvador. The court failed to rule on any of them.27Human Rights Watch. US/El Salvador Torture of Venezuelan Deportees The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights urged El Salvador to end incommunicado detention and disclose detainees’ legal status; the Salvadoran government responded that the deportees remained in its prison system “pending the decision of the sending State [the U.S.] regarding their migratory and legal status.”28Human Rights Watch. US/El Salvador Deportees Forcibly Disappeared Judge Boasberg’s December 2025 finding of “constructive custody” was a direct answer to that gap, placing responsibility back on the U.S. government regardless of where the men were physically held.7ABC News. Judge Orders Administration to Submit Plans to Return Migrants Deported
Where the Litigation Stands
J.G.G. v. Trump remains open and on appeal, with the due process ruling in place, the contempt inquiry blocked, and the government’s rehearing petition pending. Leon Rengel’s tort suit is in its early stages before Judge Boasberg, with a motion to dismiss briefed through June 2026. The RFK Human Rights case was terminated in March 2026. The criminal case against Abrego Garcia was dismissed, but he remains in the United States under injunctions while the administration seeks to send him to Liberia.
The core questions these cases raise have not been answered: whether the government can use a 1798 wartime statute to send people to a foreign prison without a hearing, and whether doing so amounts to punishment that requires a trial.