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Homeland Security Secretary Noem Identified in Venezuelan Deportation Controversy
Washington D.C. – Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has been named by the federal government as the high-ranking U.S. official who authorized the deportation of dozens of alleged Venezuelan gang members to imprisonment in El Salvador. This decision reportedly went against a federal court order.
According to new court filings from the U.S. Department of Justice, Secretary Noem made the ultimate call to transfer over 100 Venezuelan men to the custody of Salvadoran officials, where they were to be imprisoned in a country that is not their native land.
The Justice Department stated, “After receiving that legal advice, Secretary Noem directed that the AEA detainees who had been removed from the United States before the Court’s order could be transferred to the custody of El Salvador.”
The situation began in March when President Donald Trump signed an order invoking the Alien Enemies Act, which allowed for the removal of these alleged gang members from the United States. This act immediately led to the administration’s efforts to deport the Venezuelan migrant men to El Salvador’s well-known mega-prison.
This revelation comes as part of a review to identify who defied Judge James Boasberg’s oral order to reverse the southern flight route of the plane carrying the deportees. The White House maintains it was not obligated to follow the judge’s order. The Department of Justice has argued that Noem’s decision was “lawful” and “consistent with a reasonable interpretation of the court’s order.”
In a five-page court document released Tuesday, DOJ officials asserted that the government’s actions not only did not violate the court’s order but “certainly not with the clarity required for criminal contempt,” concluding that “no further proceedings are warranted or appropriate.”
However, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has sharply criticized the Trump administration’s legal argument, calling it “without merit.” Lee Gelernt, the ACLU lawyer representing the group of Venezuelan men, commented, “While the government’s filing identifies for the first time some of those involved in the decision to send these men to a notorious Salvadoran prison without any due process, it ultimately raises more questions than it answers.” He further told The Hill that “The government’s claim that Judge Boasberg’s order was ambiguous is wholly without merit.”