Trump Will Not Defy Court Order on Venezuela Deportations, Border Czar Says

‘I understand this case is in litigation through the Alien Enemies Act, and we’ll abide by the court order as litigated,' Homan said.

White House border czar Tom Homan speaks on the North Lawn of the White House on Feb. 6, 2025. Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

The Trump administration will not defy a federal judge’s orders on its deportation flights of Venezuelan nationals, border czar Tom Homan said on March 23.

In an interview with Jonathan Karl of ABC’s “This Week,” Homan pushed back on claims by some legal experts that the administration is defying judicial decisions and said the Venezuelans who were deported had been given due process according to U.S. laws.

“We’re going to continue to deport them from the United States,” he said. “I understand this case is in litigation through the Alien Enemies Act, and we'll abide by the court order as litigated.”

The border czar confirmed that the administration will abide by court orders as it goes through the appeal process, but in the meantime, immigration officials will continue to “concentrate on those who are the biggest threat” to U.S. communities based on U.S. code Title 8 authority, which grants the federal government authority to deport under specific criteria.

On March 15, the Trump administration deported more than 250 Venezuelan nationals accused of being members of either the Tren de Aragua gang or MS-13 gang. That same day, a federal judge ordered that the flights cease after several anonymous Venezuelans filed an emergency bid to block their deportations.

The administration has since been in a back-and-forth with the court, with the judge ordering more information on the timing of the flights and the status of those on board and the Justice Department pushing back, suggesting it may invoke the state secrets privilege, which shields sensitive national security details from being disclosed in civil litigation.

U.S. District Judge James Boasberg called the administration’s response “woefully insufficient” last week and suggested that the state secrets privilege may not be relevant since Secretary of State Marco Rubio had posted information about the flights on social media platform X.

While speaking with Maria Bartiromo of Fox News’s “Sunday Morning Features” on March 23, Attorney General Pam Bondi defended the use of the Alien Enemies Act to deport illegal immigrants and said the Justice Department will continue fighting Boasberg’s rulings.

“It’s modern-day warfare, and we are going to continue to fight that and protect American citizens every single step of the way,” she said.

Bondi said the administration deported 137 Venezuelan nationals last weekend to El Salvador based on them being alleged members of the Tren de Aragua gang and posing a safety risk.

Diosdado Cabello, Venezuela’s interior minister, denied those allegations on Friday and claimed none of the Venezuelans who were sent to El Salvador were members of the gang, which is now a U.S.-designated terrorist organization.

Bondi also criticized Boasberg for ruling over the administration’s executive authority.

“This is an out-of-control judge, a federal judge trying to control our entire foreign policy,” she said. “We are in court every day, fighting against these activist judges. We’re not going to stop. Many of them should be recused from these cases.”

On March 23, Karl asked Homan about Jerce Reyes Barrios, 36, a professional soccer player whose attorneys say he was misidentified as a Tren de Aragua member in part because he had a tattoo of a crown over a soccer ball and the Spanish word for God: “Dios.” Karl said the soccer player had been deported to a prison in El Salvador, where he had limited access to his attorneys, who say he has no criminal record.

Homan said “they can make those claims” and that the administration has “information sets of complete options” to determine who is a member of Tren de Aragua.

He said each individual case would be litigated with the court but that he would not “get into every specific case.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.