Judge sets rules for Trump’s deportations: 21 days’ notice to migrants in their native language

Charlotte Sweeney, a federal judge in Colorado, has joined the legal battle against the Donald Trump administration. From now on, the president must provide Venezuelan migrants with at least 21 days’ notice before any deportation — such as the controversial mid-March removals to El Salvador — during which time they can appeal in court.

This is the first time since the Republican took office that a court has imposed limits on how the new Trump administration must use the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, under which 238 migrants classified as “criminals” were deported to the Center for the Confinement of Terrorism (CECOT) in El Salvador.

Until now, the dozens of migrants expelled from the United States only learned they were being deported 24 hours beforehand. Over the past two months, family members have accused U.S. authorities of deception, saying many deportees believed they were headed to Caracas, only to be imprisoned in the dreaded Salvadoran mega-prison. Under this arrangement, President Nayib Bukele’s government receives around $20,000 per incarcerated migrant annually.

The decision by the Denver-based federal district judge follows a lawsuit from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) — which currently represents deported immigrants and has sued the Trump administration over the expulsions to El Salvador. The lawsuit essentially demands that the migrants be afforded “due process.” That is, that individuals and their attorneys be notified of the potential deportation within 30 days, and for the government to be transparent when migrants are to be sent to a third country.

The ACLU told the Supreme Court that, “whatever due process may require in this context, it does not allow removing a person to a possible life sentence without trial, in a prison known for torture and other abuse, a mere 24 hours after providing an English-only notice form (not provided to any attorney) that gives no information about the person’s right to seek judicial review, much less the process or timeline for doing so.”

Judge Sweeney’s ruling, issued Tuesday, not only granted a temporary restraining order on the deportations but also required that future notices be provided in a “language the individual understands.”

Speaking to CBS News, Tim Macdonald, legal director of the ACLU of Colorado, thanked the court for putting “a stop to the Trump administration’s unlawful attempt to disappear Colorado residents to a Salvadoran mega-prison.”

He continued: “Due process is fundamental to the rule of law in this country, and the government has shown a rampant disregard for this essential civil right.”

Macdonald also argued that the Trump administration’s desire “to evade due process is a threat to all of us.”

The risk of violating due process

The erosion of due process has become a central concern since the Trump administration ramped up efforts to deport not only alleged members of the Tren de Aragua gang, but also in carrying out the largest mass deportation operations in U.S. history.

Juan Pappier, deputy director of the Americas Division at Human Rights Watch (HRW), told EL PAÍS that that his organization has documented several legal violations stemming from the March deportations.

Not only did the administration continue sending flights to the Central American country despite a judge’s order to stop them, individuals were deported in “error” — such as 29-year-old Salvadoran national Kilmar Abrego García, whose lawyers are demanding his return.

“When we shift the line of due process for migrants, we risk shifting it for everyone,” Pappier warns. “What affects Venezuelans and Salvadorans today could affect American citizens tomorrow as well.”

According to HRW, the administration is also violating rights by preventing detainees in El Salvador from contacting their families or lawyers, and because it is impossible for them to appeal to a judge. “What we are seeing is that the Trump administration wants to move forward with these deportations without giving them the opportunity to challenge them in court,” says Pappier.

But Trump himself hasn’t hidden his intention to prevent deportations from being decided by a judge. Earlier this week, he wrote on his Truth Social platform that it is impossible to prosecute all the people currently facing deportation.

“We cannot give everyone a trial, because to do so would take, without exaggeration, 200 years,” he posted. “We would need hundreds of thousands of trials for the hundreds of thousands of Illegals we are sending out of the Country.”

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