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Noem Says She Authorized Deportation Flights to El Salvador Despite Court Order

Key points: Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem confirmed she ordered deportation flights of Venezuelan detainees to El Salvador despite a judge’s halt. DOJ filings say Noem authorized transfers of more than 100 AEA detainees and defended the move as lawful. The deported migrants were later released and returned to Venezuela in a prisoner swap. Contempt proceedings were revived after an appeals court decision, and an ACLU challenge remains pending.

04:36 AM, 12/01/2025Politics

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem confirmed she instructed federal officials to continue deporting Venezuelan detainees to El Salvador even after a federal judge had ordered the flights halted.

On NBC’s "Meet the Press," Noem said the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has authority over deportation decisions. "The decisions that are made on deportations, where flights go, and when they go are my decision at the Department of Homeland Security," she said. "And we will continue to do the right thing and ensure that dangerous criminals are removed."

"The decisions that are made on deportations, where flights go, and when they go are my decision at the Department of Homeland Security. And we will continue to do the right thing and ensure that dangerous criminals are removed." — Kristi Noem

In recent court filings, the Department of Justice (DOJ) says Noem directed officials to continue deportations to a Salvadoran detention facility while courts considered whether the administration had defied a judge’s oral order to return more than 100 Venezuelan detainees to the United States.

This spring, President Trump signed an executive order invoking the Alien Enemies Act (AEA) to authorize deportations of Venezuelan nationals; the administration has characterized the move as an effort to accelerate a large-scale deportation campaign. Officials contend they were not required to comply with District Judge James Boasberg’s March directive.

The DOJ’s most recent filing states that Noem "directed that the AEA detainees who had been removed from the United States before the Court’s order could be transferred to the custody of El Salvador," and it argued that the decision "was lawful and was consistent with a reasonable interpretation of the Court’s order." Noem reiterated her support for that position in her television interview.

The migrants deported in those operations were later released from the Salvadoran facility and flown to Venezuela as part of a large-scale prisoner swap. Judge Boasberg previously found probable cause to open contempt proceedings against the administration for the deportations; those proceedings were paused for months until an appeals court last week cleared the way for him to proceed. A separate lawsuit by the American Civil Liberties Union challenging the administration’s use of the AEA remains under the judge’s review.

The legal dispute raises constitutional and procedural questions about executive authority, compliance with court orders, and the application of the AEA. The situation is ongoing and likely to produce further litigation and judicial rulings.

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