A federal judge ruled Thursday that President Donald Trump must return more than 100 Venezuelans deported to El Salvador under the Alien Enemies Act last spring.

“The Court will now order the Government to facilitate the return from third countries of those Plaintiffs who so desire,” Chief Judge James Boasberg of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia wrote in court filings. “It will also permit other Plaintiffs to file their habeas supplements from
abroad.”

Boasberg’s ruling stems from a separate December decision that found probable cause that the Trump administration violated the due process rights of more than 100 Venezuelans illegally in the country, whom the administration targeted as being suspected members of the violent Tren de Aragua transnational cartel.

The deportees were initially sent to the El Salvadoran prison facility known as CECOT, before they were later transferred back to Venezuela in a prisoner swap.

The Trump administration has already said it would appeal any decision granting the return or access to legal remedies of the deported Venezuelan group, arguing in part that the situation in Venezuela has changed dramatically since the Jan. 3 operation to capture and arrest the country’s former dictator, Nicolas Maduro.

If the men deported do not want to return to the United States, they can file petitions to conduct the proceedings remotely.

The development marks a critical blow to the Trump administration’s efforts to deport 137 Venezuelan men who were flown last year to El Salvador’s Terrorism Confinement Center without advance notice or court hearings.

The Trump administration is expected to appeal.

Boasberg hinted at his directive during a Monday hearing, suggesting that the possible remedy in this case could mirror that of the case of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who was also ordered by federal courts to be returned from El Salvador after it was determined that an immigration judge in 2019 deemed him eligible for deportation, but not to El Salvador, his country of origin.

The Justice Department did not respond to a request for comment.