Judge Boasberg Cancels Hearing After SCOTUS Vacates His Orders

The Supreme Court ruled that the case was wrongly brought in Washington, instead of where illegal immigrants are being held.

U.S. District Judge James Boasberg, chief judge of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, stands for a portrait at E. Barrett Prettyman Federal Courthouse in Washington on March 16, 2023. Carolyn Van Houten/The Washington Post via AP

A federal judge whose orders preventing the Department of Homeland Security from deporting suspected gang members were recently vacated by the Supreme Court has canceled a hearing that could have led to an extension of the orders.

U.S. District Judge James Boasberg in a minute order on April 8 cited the Supreme Court’s action in canceling the hearing, which was scheduled for Tuesday in Washington and slated for arguments in favor of and against entering a preliminary injunction against the government.

Justices on Monday said that temporary restraining orders (TROs) entered in March by Boasberg against federal authorities were being vacated because the case was brought by Venezuelan nationals in Washington even though they were being held in Texas.

Justices said illegal immigrants detained under President Donald Trump’s Alien Enemies Act declaration, which said that the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua is working with the Venezuelan government to invade the United States, can challenge their detainments, but only through habeas corpus petitions brought in venues where they’re detained.

“In yesterday’s ruling vacating this Court’s TROs, the Supreme Court held that Plaintiffs cannot be deported under the Alien Enemies Act without an opportunity to challenge their removal in federal court. It also determined that the appropriate venue for such proceedings is the Southern District of Texas or wherever Plaintiffs are currently held,” Boasberg wrote. “This Court accordingly ORDERS that ... today’s preliminary-injunction hearing is VACATED.”

Compared to a temporary restraining order, a preliminary injunction stays in place for a longer period of time, typically until a court decides a case in favor of a party.

The judge also directed the Venezuelan nationals who sued the administration to inform him by April 16 whether they “believe that they still have a basis to proceed on their Motion for Preliminary Injunction in this Court and, if so, proposing a briefing schedule.”

The action came after government lawyers notified Boasberg of the Supreme Court’s ruling.

“Based on the Supreme Court’s decision, Plaintiffs’ motion for a preliminary injunction should be denied, and this case should be dismissed for lack of jurisdiction. Furthermore, the Supreme Court’s decision eliminates the basis for this Court’s order to show cause, which should therefore be dissolved as well,” they wrote.

Lawyers for the plaintiffs have not yet lodged any filings since the ruling from the nation’s top court.

Officials with the government, including Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, on Monday celebrated the ruling.

“Today’s SCOTUS ruling is a victory for commonsense security—an activist judge cannot stop the will of the American people for a safe and secure homeland,” Noem wrote on social media platform X. “We will continue to enforce our immigration laws and restore sanity to our immigration system by using all appropriate authorities, including the Alien Enemies Act.”

Trump’s invocation of the centuries-old Alien Enemies Act said that Tren de Aragua “has invaded the United States and continues to invade, attempt to invade, and threaten to invade the country.” It authorized officials to immediately apprehend, detain, and remove all Tren de Aragua members in the United States who are older than 13 years of age and who are not naturalized or lawful permanent residents.

Lawyers for the Venezuelans told Boasberg in the lawsuit that the Alien Enemies Act was improperly being be used “against nationals of a country—Venezuela—with whom the United States is not at war, which is not invading the United States, and which has not launched a predatory incursion into the United States.”

Boasberg sided with the plaintiffs, entering restraining orders within hours and later keeping the orders in place.

An appeals court had upheld the orders prior to the Supreme Court’s ruling.

Following the ruling, Attorney General Pam Bondi said on X that Americans should know that officials “will direct our assets to scour the country for any remnants of Tren De Aragua and DEPORT THEM.”