A federal judge on Wednesday extended the deadline for the Trump administration to provide details on the Venezuelan deportation flights.
Administration officials now have until noon ET Thursday to satisfy the judge's demands. The original deadline was noon Tuesday.
U.S. District Judge James Boasberg, who was nominated to the federal bench by former President Barack Obama, also said that officials, instead of offering details, can invoke the state secrets doctrine and explain why Venezuelan gang members were deported.
He took issue with the government's characterization of his request as a "unnecessary judicial fishing" expedition, saying it was necessary to "determine if the government deliberately flouted" his order to turn around the flights "and if so, what the consequences should be."
President Donald Trump invoked the Alien Enemies Act, which has only been used three times previously, and claimed there was an invasion by the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua.
Boasberg ordered the administration not to deport, through that 1798 law, anyone in its custody. However, flights that were in transit at the time of the judge's order continued and landed in El Salvador, which had agreed to house the gang members in a notorious prison.
The judge originally ordered the Trump administration to answer several questions under seal, where the information would not be publicly exposed. There were questions about the planes' takeoff and landing times and the number of people deported under Trump's proclamation.
Earlier Wednesday, administration officials accused Boasberg of overstepping his judicial authority in demanding more details about the deportation flights.
In a court filing, Justice Department lawyers said the Washington-based district judge was improperly intruding on presidential discretion to handle sensitive diplomatic and national security matters.
"The pending questions are grave encroachments on core aspects of absolute and unreviewable executive branch authority," DOJ lawyers wrote.
The administration contends that a judge lacks the authority to tell the president whether he can determine the country is being invaded under the act or how to defend it.
Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this story.
Charlie McCarthy ✉
Charlie McCarthy, a writer/editor at Newsmax, has nearly 40 years of experience covering news, sports, and politics.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.