A DC judge ordered the Trump administration to turn around flights deporting known members of the Venezuelan-based designated Foreign Terrorist Organization and return them to the US after he entered a temporary restraining order on the part of five gang members and created a “class” of similarly situated criminals; see .

2/ Here is the complaint. https://t.co/rtNWRqHCNM

— Margot Cleveland (@ProfMJCleveland) March 15, 2025

As it turned out, the judge may not have had all the power he imagined. El Salvador President Nayib Bukele, who doesn’t have to care what some desiccated megalomaniac in a black robe says, had a harsh message in response to the order.

Oopsie…

Too late 😂 pic.twitter.com/nDHL6deLJq

— Nayib Bukele (@nayibbukele) March 16, 2025

Later, President Bukele posted video of 238 TdA street thugs arriving in San Salvador before moving to permanent lodging in El Salvador’s maximum security prison. In the mix were 23 MS-13 gang members wanted on criminal charges in El Salvador.

Today, the first 238 members of the Venezuelan criminal organization, Tren de Aragua, arrived in our country. They were immediately transferred to CECOT, the Terrorism Confinement Center, for a period of one year (renewable).

The United States will pay a very low fee for them,… pic.twitter.com/tfsi8cgpD6

— Nayib Bukele (@nayibbukele) March 16, 2025

Today, the first 238 members of the Venezuelan criminal organization, Tren de Aragua, arrived in our country. They were immediately transferred to CECOT, the Terrorism Confinement Center, for a period of one year (renewable). 

The United States will pay a very low fee for them, but a high one for us. 

Over time, these actions, combined with the production already being generated by more than 40,000 inmates engaged in various workshops and labor under the Zero Idleness program, will help make our prison system self-sustainable. As of today, it costs $200 million per year. 

On this occasion, the U.S. has also sent us 23 MS-13 members wanted by Salvadoran justice, including two ringleaders. One of them is a member of the criminal organization’s highest structure. 

This will help us finalize intelligence gathering and go after the last remnants of MS-13, including its former and new members, money, weapons, drugs, hideouts, collaborators, and sponsors. 

As always, we continue advancing in the fight against organized crime. But this time, we are also helping our allies, making our prison system self-sustainable, and obtaining vital intelligence to make our country an even safer place. All in a single action. 

May God bless El Salvador, and may God bless the United States.

Marco Rubio acknowledged the tweet (or whatever we’re calling it now).

Thank you for your assistance and friendship, President Bukele. https://t.co/E6DrFLeU5F

— Secretary Marco Rubio (@SecRubio) March 16, 2025

Rubio also gave more details on the operation.

We have sent 2 dangerous top MS-13 leaders plus 21 of its most wanted back to face justice in El Salvador. Also, as promised by @POTUS, we sent over 250 alien enemy members of Tren de Aragua which El Salvador has agreed to hold in their very good jails at a fair price that will…

— Secretary Marco Rubio (@SecRubio) March 16, 2025

Bukele is a tough character whose uncompromising stance on law and order has transformed El Salvador from the most dangerous to the safest country in Central America; see . I’d much rather have Venezeuelan terrorists held in El Salvador than detained in America, and if it costs less in the process, that’s a bonus.

The fact that the administration is pretty unrepentant about plane loads of TdA gangsters being dropped off in El Salvador with El Salvador’s president basically flipping the judge off indicates something larger may be afoot. As always in times of legal skullduggery, I turn to my friend and former RedStater Bill Shipley.

Yesterday was different, and I remain of the view that this is a test case the Trump Admin has purposely triggered in order to RE-establish POTUS authority to use the AEA [note: Alien Enemies Act] to address the consequences of the Biden Admin “Open Border” policy. That policy allowed millions of unvetted migrants to enter the country illegally. The ability of the Administration to deport a substantial number of those illegal aliens is limited by the physical facilities necessary to arrest, detain, and hold them while deportation proceedings take place. Having the ability to execute mass deportations of the worst criminal offenders without going through the processes set forth in other federal statutes would increase significantly the pace by which large numbers of such individuals could be removed without burdening the facilities we do have.

…

At the time the complaint was filed, no such proclamation had been issued by President Trump, but the Complaint was specific to an extent that would be highly unlikely if the Plaintiffs’ attorneys had not been given a preview of what it was likely to say. And, in fact, a Proclamation tracking pretty closely with the allegations of the Complaint was made public in the afternoon on Saturday, prior to a 5:00 p.m. hearing scheduled by the District Court in D.C. earlier in the morning.

So the gauntlet has been thrown down, and an appeal has been made to the DC Circuit; . Now, we’ll discover the extent to which Article 3 judges are willing to assume responsibility for national security decisions.