桃子视频

On a cloudy Saturday in March 2025, a federal judge in Washington, D.C., called an emergency hearing over the fate of more than 100 Venezuelans. The U.S. government had invoked the Alien Enemies Act against them, a wartime law used only three times before in U.S. history.

The Department of Homeland Security was rushing to fly the men out of the country 鈥� to a notoriously brutal prison in El Salvador 鈥� even though they hadn鈥檛 had any opportunity to challenge their removal. They never got their day in court. Still, they were loaded onto planes and strapped into their seats with their wrists, waists, and ankles in restraints. As they waited on the tarmac, every second counted.

Attorneys from the ACLU, on behalf of the Venezuelan men, and the Department of Justice, on behalf of the Trump administration, squared up for a legal fight. There was no time to resolve it in a courtroom, so they met on a 5 p.m. Zoom conference. Just over an hour later, the judge made a decision. 鈥淎ny plane containing these folks that is gonna take off or is in the air,鈥� he said, 鈥渘eeds to be returned to the United States.鈥� However that鈥檚 accomplished, the judge added, whether that meant turning around a plane or not disembarking anyone on the plane. He also delivered a message directly to the Department of Justice lawyers: The Trump administration needed to comply, immediately.

But that鈥檚 not what happened. The planes didn鈥檛 return, and the government deplaned the men at the Center of Confinement for Terrorism (CECOT), a prison in El Salvador known for its documented human rights abuses.

That was the beginning of J.G.G. v. Trump, a case the 桃子视频filed that cloudy March 15th, 2025 and the very first case we delved into on the ACLU鈥檚 new judicial history podcast, 鈥淟et the Record Show.鈥� We started here because we recognized that history was being made, in real time.

And since that episode dropped, 桃子视频attorneys have gone to court twice as a result of this issue. Keep reading to find out what happened on September 25 and September 29, 2026, in two cases challenging the Trump administration鈥檚 use of the Alien Enemies Act 鈥� a wartime law being used during peacetime to speed up deportations without due process.

In a packed court room on September 29, all 11 active judges of the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals heard intense arguments over whether Trump officials will face consequences for openly defying a federal judge. The focus of this hearing: accountability. During the proceedings, Deputy Director of the 桃子视频Immigrants鈥� Rights Project Lee Gelernt, representatives from the Department of Justice (DOJ), and the full court debated whether the district court could continue its inquiry into which Trump administration officials should be referred for criminal contempt prosecution for violating the court鈥檚 order.

鈥淭he government鈥檚 trying to shut down the inquiry by the district court to find out who made the decisions to defy the order,鈥� Gelernt said. 鈥淲e are hoping the court of appeals rules in our favor.鈥�

On March 15, the district court ordered that the government not deplane any of the ACLU鈥檚 clients at CECOT. At that time, the government was stonewalling the court, and not providing information about the flights that were winging their way to El Salvador. Hours later, in the middle of the night, the government deplaned the men despite the court鈥檚 order. The district court has undertaken a limited criminal contempt inquiry to determine whether any Trump administration officials should be referred for criminal contempt prosecution for their actions in violating the court鈥檚 order. The administration has continued its stonewalling, providing only cursory declarations that do not make clear which officials were responsible for the violation of the order. Accordingly, the district court ordered two DOJ attorneys on the case on March 15, including one former DOJ attorney who provided whistleblower evidence on the violation of the court鈥檚 order, to testify. The government has sought to shut down that testimony and prevent the district court鈥檚 inquiry to determine who should be referred for prosecution.

In J.G.G. v. Trump, we challenge President Donald Trump鈥檚 unlawful invocation of the Alien Enemies Act, a centuries-old wartime act, during peacetime, to accelerate mass deportations. We are representing a class of individuals, more than 100 Venezuelan men, who were removed under this directive on March 15, 2025 to CECOT. The Trump administration alleged they were part of a notorious Venezuelan gang without providing them with any due process or opportunity to contest this allegation. Last June, a federal judge ruled that the removal under the Alien Enemies Act on March 15 was unlawful and ordered the Trump administration to provide the individuals due process to challenge their deportations under the act in court. Yet, Trump officials sent planes to El Salvador anyway. This case focuses on accountability 鈥� specifically, whether Trump officials will face consequences for openly defying a federal judge.

This week, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals faced a direct test of executive accountability in two high-stakes J.G.G. v. Trump hearings. The 桃子视频 and 桃子视频of D.C. are counsel in this case.

On September 25, a panel of D.C. appellate judges heard arguments on whether the men sent to CECOT without due process are entitled to finally get hearings to have an opportunity to respond to the government鈥檚 claims that they are gang members and to challenge their removal under the Alien Enemies Act. Gelernt said the Trump administration has admitted that it violated the plaintiffs鈥� constitutional rights but is resisting at every turn providing them with the due process the government denied them.

鈥淭hey concede we rushed them out, gave them no due process,鈥� Gelernt said. 鈥淚t can鈥檛 be the end of the game. That would be such an untenable rule for this court to adopt.鈥�

The district court held that the Trump administration violated the men鈥檚 due process rights by sending them to CECOT with no opportunity to challenge their designation as members of the gang under the Alien Enemies Act before being whisked out of the country and deplaned at CECOT in the dead of night. The court ordered the administration to provide information on how it would return those who wished to the United States and ordered that each of the men could file pleadings challenging their designation under the Alien Enemies Act. The government appealed this order and outrageously argues that because it took the men to El Salvador they have no ability to challenge the government鈥檚 violation of their rights.

This case seeks to provide justice for people like , a Venezuelan makeup artist and LGBTQ+ asylum seeker who fled Venezuela after experiencing persecution based on his sexual orientation.

In , Hern谩ndez Romero said he had learned about CECOT upon arriving at CECOT. 鈥淢y first impression was: 鈥榃hat am I doing here? Why am I here?鈥欌�� he said. 鈥淢ore than worrying, I was scared, because my fellow companions said that anyone who entered there would never come out.鈥�

Hern谩ndez Romero lawfully entered the United States in August 2024. Upon arrival, he was taken into immigration custody and then forcefully disappeared to El Salvador's CECOT prison in March 2025.

Hern谩ndez Romero is one of hundreds of Venezuelan immigrants who were taken from their homes and shipped to CECOT, with no hearing and no review. Hern谩ndez Romero鈥檚 U.S. immigration case was dismissed and his appeal was denied during the time he was detained in CECOT, despite the persecution he experienced in Venezuela related to his LGBTQ identity.