Shocking footage shows immigration buses taking suspected Tren de Aragua gang members to a Texas airport being forced to turn around just before the Supreme Court ordered the deportations to be paused.
At least 28 migrants from Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Bluebonnet Detention Center in Anson were bound for Abilene Airport when they suddenly made a U-turn as legal battles raged in Washington over the Trump administration’s use of an 18th-century wartime law to deport migrants without a trial, NBC News footage shows.
The buses, followed by a large motorcade of at least 18 police cruisers from multiple agencies, unexpectedly drove past the airport and hauled it back to the detention center.
As the bus was heading to the airport, US District Judge James Boasberg heard an emergenyc request from the American Civil Liberties Union [ACLU] for a temporary restraining order requiring 30 days’ notice from the Trump administration before any of their clients were deported under the under the Alien Enemies Act after learning they had been issued removal notices.
After ACLU lawyers informed Boasberg just before the hearing that buses were heading to the airport right then to deport the migrants in Texas, the judge asked a Justice Department lawyer to ensure no flights were deporting migrants from Bluebonnet under the 1798 law, according to NBC News.
Boasberg ultimately denied the ACLU’s request, but the Supreme Court paused the deportation flights in a 7-2 emergency order just after midnight Saturday morning.
“The Government is directed not to remove any member of the putative class of detainees from the United States until further order of this Court,” the order said.
The hold only applies to migrants detained in Northern Texas, though other judges have separately paused deportations in New York, Colorado, and South Texas.
DHS officials would not confirm to NBC who was on the buses or why they turned around.
The legal fight builds on a April 7 ruling from SCOUTS in which the justices voted 5–4 to let deportations continue — but only if migrants are given notice, a chance to challenge removal in court, and if their cases are filed in the jurisdiction where they are held, not Washington, D.C.
The migrants had been told they were being deported to El Salvador or Venezuela — although their final destination was unclear, family members and lawyers representing detainees at the ICE detention facility told the outlet.
All of the men on the buses, whom the Trump administration claims are affiliated with the violent Tren de Aragua gang, were asked to sign a removal letter but many refused, according to NBC.
Video reviewed by the outlet showed several of the migrants holding up their orders in apparent protest.
If the men had signed the document and shipped to Latin America less than 24 hours after signing, DHS could have violated the court’s order for not providing “reasonable time” to those the administration is seeking to deport under the Alien Enemies Act.
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