If there is one thing the Trump administration does not do, it is bore those intensely involved in analyzing real-time politics and history. In his second season of owning the Resolute desk, the Republican leader is more intent on “disrupting” the status quo and testing the limits of executive power. “A single judge in a single city cannot direct the movements of an aircraft carrier full of foreign alien terrorists who were physically expelled from U.S. soil,” his press secretary said of the controversial incident involving Venezuelans allegedly members of the ‘Tren de Aragua’ (TdA) gang deported to El Salvador, no longer so much refuting the narrative that the government ignored a judge's restraining order—or whether or not the planes had left U.S. airspace—but disputing the legal basis of the court order itself unless we understand Leavitt to be speaking more aspirational. “We are wholly confident that we are going to win this case in court,” she told a press conference Monday.
In my last report, I stated that it is very difficult to consistently connect the Miraflores Palace to the TdA. For example, part of the Pennsylvania Avenue narrative is that during the tenure of Tareck El Aissami—now the Venezuelan Attorney General—as governor of Aragua state the TdA “grew significantly”. The TdA was born in the Tocorón prison in Aragua. However, there is no evidence linking El Aissami to the criminal organization that many claim spread like cancer throughout the region—largely “infiltrated” in the migration wave. Nor as far as I know is there hard evidence supporting the claim that Maduro himself not only "leads" the so-called “Cártel de los Soles,” but that the latter “coordinates with and relies on TdA” to advance drug trafficking as a weapon against the United States. In any case, section 1 of the proclamation issued on March 15 leaves it wide open to the imagination how the concomitance between Caracas and TdA takes place: Trump claimed that the TdA acts “at the direction, clandestine or otherwise, of the Maduro regime in Venezuela” when trying to aggressively match the wording of a 1798-sanctioned law.
SourceFor example, a recent AP cable acknowledges that “(the) size of the gang is unclear as is the extent to which its actions are coordinated across state lines and national borders.” Another red point is whether the administration can easily jump the hurdle of proving that the Venezuelans deported yesterday to El Salvador—which will “house” them in an iconic prison, the largest in Latin America, for $6 million a year although “(they) will be forced to work to pay for their upkeep”—and to Guantanamo before are members of the TdA. The judicial brouhaha seems to promise quite a show, as Trump's officials are challenged “to explain under oath whether they violated” the order from District Judge James E. Boasberg. I think so because while the administration claims the flights had already left U.S. airspace, the judge's order made no distinction with their radar position. Boasberg questioned government lawyers Monday about why they believed his order had been complied with, and why they had come forward with no answers. “There is a lot of operational national security and foreign relations at risk,” said a Justice Department attorney. The Venezuelan government accuses the joint action between San Salvador and Washington of constituting a "kidnapping". Trump had reached an agreement with Maduro on Venezuelan deportees but the revocation of a license granted to California-based Chevron to exploit and export Venezuelan oil—with Trump caving in to the demands of Cuban-origin representatives from South Florida—caused the embattled Bolivarian leader to backtrack on his stance.
Here's what to know about the mega-prison in El Salvador where hundreds of immigrants were transferred after President Trump signed a wartime declaration - The Alien Enemies Act of 1798 - last used during World War II to target Venezuelan gang members. pic.twitter.com/ydi6Ejynz5
— The Associated Press (@AP) March 17, 2025
