Alleged members of «foreign terrorist cartel» Tren de Aragua are set to be brought back to the U.S. after their deportations in 2025 — and it could come at taxpayers’ expense.

U.S. District Judge James Boasberg, who has repeatedly butted heads with the Trump administration, ordered the Trump administration on Thursday to facilitate the return of 137 migrants deported to a notorious prison in El Salvador in 2025, called CECOT. 

Boasberg stipulated in his ruling that the government pay for the migrants’ airfare back to the U.S., meaning taxpayers are likely footing the bill. 

Boasberg argued that it’s «unclear why Plaintiffs should bear the financial cost of their return in such an instance,» noting that, «this situation would never have arisen had the Government simply afforded Plaintiffs their constitutional rights before initially deporting them.»

FEDERAL JUDGE ORDERS DEPORTED VENEZUELANS TO BE RETURNED TO US

The ruling comes as part of a nearly year-long saga, when the federal judge attempted to halt the Trump administration’s deportations of migrants to El Salvador under the Alien Enemies Act in March 2025. 

The Supreme Court ultimately allowed the Trump administration to continue using the Alien Enemies Act to carry out deportations in April, but ordered that detainees receive notice and an opportunity to challenge allegations.

Boasberg has since been wading through legal avenues with the men in El Salvador, issuing a ruling in December that the Trump administration denied them their due process. 

It is unclear how many of the men will actually take the offer and return to the U.S., with Boasberg noting that the noncitizens «would be detained upon arrival» back to the U.S. 

Similar to Boasberg’s ruling, another federal judge this month ordered the Trump administration to pay for the return of three migrant families that the judge ruled ICE unlawfully deported by a 2023 humanitarian-parole settlement. 

TRUMP ADMIN ASKS BOASBERG FOR MORE TIME TO DETAIL CECOT PLANS AFTER MADURO OUSTER

A prisoner is moved as Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem tours the Terrorist Confinement Center (CECOT) on March 26, 2025 in Tecoluca, El Salvador.  (Alex Brandon-Pool/Getty Images)

DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin told Fox News Digital on Thursday in response to the ruling that the illegal aliens in El Salvador were removed under proper legal authority, before taking a shot as Boasberg. 

«Nothing has changed; in addition to being in our country illegally, these aliens are foreign terrorists designated as alien enemies by the President,» DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin told Fox News Digital when asked about the ruling. 

TRUMP ADMIN SAYS MADURO CAPTURE REINFORCES ALIEN ENEMIES ACT REMOVALS

«They were removed under the proper legal authorities. This case is no longer about the facts or law, but about Judge Boasberg’s crusade to stop President Trump from doing the will of the American People. He has been shut down by appellate courts again and again on this case,» she continued. 

Boasberg has become a prime target for Republicans over a string of rulings tied to Trump-era policies — including the Trump administration backing a potential judicial impeachment of the judge, and other «rogue» judges, in January. 

DHS assistant secretary for public affairs Tricia McLaughlin (dhs.gov)

The migrants in El Salvador were removed under The Alien Enemies Act, which is a 1798 wartime immigration law that the Trump administration invoked to deport violent gang members with alleged ties to criminal organizations, such as Tren de Aragua (TdA). 

TdA, as well as MS-13, were additionally designated as Foreign Terrorist Organizations by the Trump administration’s State Department in February 2025. 

The administration has described those deported to the notoriously secure prison in El Salvador as «violent savages» and terrorists who pose a threat to U.S. security. 

A prisoner is moved as Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem tours the Terrorist Confinement Center (CECOT) on March 26, 2025 in Tecoluca, El Salvador.  (Alex Brandon-Pool/Getty Images)

A previous analysis of 238 migrants deported to El Salvador found six faced attempted murder, assault, armed robbery, gun possession or domestic battery charges in the U.S., the Texas Tribune reported in May 2025, while 32 other deportees had been convicted in the U.S. of crimes, many of which were nonviolent, according to the outlet.

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DHS has defended that deportees labeled «‘non-criminals» by the media are «terrorists, human rights abusers, gang members and more — they just don’t have a rap sheet in the U.S.» 

Alden Biesen, un castillo belga del siglo XVI, a tiro de piedra de las fronteras de Alemania y los Países Bajos, sirvió a los dirigentes europeos para celebrar este jueves un “retiro”. Europa vive en un cruce de caminos histórico, después de perder a su gran aliado de los últimos 80 años justo cuando Rusia ataca por el este y China duda entre ser el gran socio o el gran rival comercial.

Los europeos tienen recursos suficientes para sacar la cabeza en este mundo de superpotencias depredadoras: el mercado con mayor poder adquisitivo del planeta con más de 450 millones de personas. Una industria militar que en apenas tres años ha dado un paso delante de gigante y ya arma por sí sola todo el esfuerzo de guerra ucraniano. Una potencia financiera al menos equiparable a la estadounidense. Le faltan recursos energéticos, pero a sus vecinos le sobran. Pero todos esos recursos que tienen no los utilizan eficazmente porque subsisten obstáculos en el mercado interno europeo.

La economía europea va al ralentí, pero ha resistido una grave sucesión de crisis desde la pandemia hasta la guerra arancelaria de Donald Trump pasando por la crisis energética. El desempleo está en mínimos históricos. Y aunque la crisis por la subida del precio de la vivienda es un factor común de preocupación, las expectativas económicas son relativamente optimistas.

Les puede el miedo al cambio. No es sencillo entender que el primo mayor, el que daba seguridad a Europa, puede ser ahora un enemigo que amenace incluso militarmente. Un enemigo que anuncia oficialmente que ayudará a financiar centros de pensamiento y fundaciones que apoyen a los partidos de extrema derecha que quieren destruir la Unión Europea.

La mayoría de los líderes entiende que tiene una amenaza interna, apoyada por Rusia y Estados Unidos, pero responsabilidad europea. Los partidos de extrema derecha en el entorno del 25% de apoyo a nivel continental y amenazando con entrar en gobiernos centrales dentro de un año: en Francia con Marine Le Pen o Jordan Bardella y en España con Santiago Abascal de la mano del Partido Popular.

Nunca desde los años 30 del siglo pasado, en la década que vio la eclosión del fascismo europeo, tuvieron tanto apoyo. Nunca, ni si quiera entonces, el apoyo fue tan general por toda Europa. Portugal, un país vacunado contra el virus del extremismo hasta hace pocos años, vio cómo el candidato ultra alcanzaba el domingo el 35% del voto en el ballotage de las presidenciales.

La otra amenaza es externa, porque por primera vez desde antes de la Segunda Guerra Mundial, en el movimiento de las grandes superpotencias Europa está sola. ¿Cómo se sale de esa trampa? Los europeos creen que es esencial un salto adelante económico que permita reducir dependencias externas y afirmar una política de seguridad, comercial y energética independiente. Todos, desde la derecha radical de la italiana Giorgia Meloni hasta el socialismo del español Pedro Sánchez, coinciden en el diagnóstico. Las diferencias están en las soluciones.

Los dirigentes de la derecha tradicional, como el alemán Friedrichs Merz, o de la derecha radical, como la italiana Giorgia Meloni, abogan por desregular, por eliminar buena parte de la normativa económica europea para dar mucho más margen a las empresas, para ahorrarles costos y permitir actividades que hoy tienen restricciones o están vetadas. Apuestan sobre todo por eliminar restricciones medioambientales y liberalizar los mercados laborales.

Enfrente tienen al francés Emmanuel Macron y al español Pedro Sánchez. Su propuesta es más clásica en el contexto de la Unión Europea y a la vez un salto adelante en la integración del bloque. Ellos abogan por una política europea de reindustrialización y por proyectos comunes en aspectos como energía o defensa que se financien a través de eurobonos, deuda emitida conjuntamente. Defienden la importancia de aprobar ya la normativa que fomentará el “Buy European” e incluso, en el caso del español, dar pasos hacia la creación de unas Fuerzas Armadas europeas.

El retiro sirvió para que el ex primer ministro italiano Mario Draghi, quien presidió el Banco Central Europeo casi una década y el año pasado redactó el gran informe que debe servir de guía a la política económica europea, abroncara a los líderes. Según un funcionario europeo, Draghi les dijo que deben reducir barreras en el mercado interno europeo, movilizar el ahorro europeo para que vaya a inversión productiva dentro de Europa (casi 300.000 millones de euros acaban cada año en Wall Street), reducir el coste de la energía, activar “preferencias europeas” en sectores estratégicos y avanzar en una especie de federalismo pragmático. Que avancen más rápido quienes están dispuestos, como se hizo cuando se creó el euro.

UNITED NATIONS: Iran’s election as vice-chair of the United Nations Commission for Social Development is being slammed by human rights advocates and policy analysts, who have condemned the U.N.’s hypocrisy when it comes to its treatment of undemocratic regimes. 

The leadership role was approved without objection during a meeting of the commission, where delegates adopted agenda items and organizational decisions by consensus.

The United Nations has faced continued criticism over its inaction towards the regime’s violent crackdown against protesters in December and January. On Wednesday, U.N. Secretary General António Guterres faced criticism for congratulating Iran on the anniversary of the 1979 Islamic revolution.

UN CHIEF BLASTED AS ‘ABJECTLY TONE-DEAF’ OVER MESSAGE TO IRAN MARKING REVOLUTION ANNIVERSARY

U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz criticized the development, writing on X: «Yet another reason why we are not a member of, nor do we participate in, this ridiculous ‘Commission for Social Development.’»

Alireza Jafarzadeh, author of The Iran Threat and deputy director of the U.S. office of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, also criticized the decision. «Having the Iranian regime in the leadership of a U.N. body tasked with promoting democracy, gender equality, tolerance and non-violence is appalling and like fox guarding the hen house,» Jafarzadeh said. «The vast majority of the Iranian people are calling for regime change because the mullahs are the world’s leading human rights violators, misogynist to the core, and they slaughter the voices of dissent by thousands.»

He argued that Iran should face scrutiny rather than institutional advancement. «Instead, the Iranian regime must be a subject of intense investigation and accountability by all U.N. bodies for crimes against humanity and genocide, from the 1980s to January 2026 uprisings,» Jafarzadeh said. «Decades of inaction by Western governments have emboldened the regime. This must stop now.»

G7 THREATENS IRAN WITH NEW SANCTIONS OVER NATIONWIDE PROTEST CRACKDOWN KILLING THOUSANDS

People gather in Dag Hammerskjold Park across the street from the U.N. headquarters to protest Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, who addressed the General Assembly on Wednesday.  (Peter Aitken for Fox News Digital)

«By electing Iran to help lead a commission devoted to democracy, women’s rights and non-violence, the U.N. makes itself into a mockery,» said Hillel Neuer, executive director of UN Watch. «This is a regime that brutalizes women for not covering their hair, and that just massacred tens of thousands of its own civilians in two days.»

Neuer argued that governments had the ability to block the appointment but chose not to act. «The EU states know how to stop abusive regimes from winning these seats — they’ve done so in the recent past with Russia — but this time on Iran, they chose silence and complicity,» he said. «By rewarding the Mullahs right after their slaughter of innocents, the U.N. has now sent a very dangerous message to Tehran.»

Lisa Daftari, an Iran analyst, said the optics of Iran holding a leadership role in a commission centered on social development and rights were deeply troubling.

US AMBASSADOR WARNS IRAN AT EMERGENCY UN MEETING THAT TRUMP IS ‘MAN OF ACTION,’ ‘ALL OPTIONS ARE ON THE TABLE’

Iranians gather while blocking a street during a protest in Tehran, Iran on Jan. 9, 2026.   (MAHSA / Middle East Images / AFP via Getty Images)

«For Iranian women who risk prison or worse just for taking off a headscarf, watching Tehran get a vice-chair on a U.N. social-development commission feels like a slap in the face.»

She added that broader patterns in U.N. voting and resolutions contribute to perceptions of bias.

«When the same U.N. system has spent the last decade passing roughly 170-plus resolutions against Israel and only around 80 on all other countries combined, you don’t need a PhD to see there’s a bias problem,» Daftari said. «When the U.N. has churned out well over a hundred anti-Israel resolutions in recent years while managing a fraction of that number on the world’s worst dictatorships, it looks less like moral leadership and more like political theater.»

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Protesters burn images of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei during a rally held in Solidarity with Iran’s Uprising, organized by The national Council of Resistance of Iran, on Whitehall in central London Jan. 11, 2026, to protest against the Iranian regime’s crackdown on internet access and «recognise their right to self-defense against the regime’s forces».  (Carlos Jasso/AFP via Getty Images)

Daftari rejected that procedural nature of United Nations committees and committees.

«Some diplomats will wave this away as a procedural formality, but at the U.N. nothing is ever purely symbolic,» she said. «The bottom line is that handing Iran’s regime a gavel on ‘social development’ confirms yet again that the place is biased and deeply hypocritical.»