Flight data shows timeline of the Venezuelan deportation operation

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Trump administration's decision to deport Venezuelan migrants to El Salvador despite a judge's explicit order that the planes carrying them be turned around represents an extraordinary escalation in the president's challenge to the U.S. Constitution's system of checks and balances. 

What follows is a timeline – mainly drawn from court filings and the plane tracking website Flightradar24 – showing how the deportation operation proceeded on Saturday, as the judge ordered it to come to a halt. All times are Eastern Time.   

Friday March 14 Several Venezuelan detainees being held at the El Valle Detention Center in Texas are told that they are being moved in preparation for a flight or a transfer to an unknown destination.  

Saturday March 15 

Early Saturday – The American Civil Liberties Union and Democracy Forward sue the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump in federal court in Washington, D.C., saying five Venezuelan men being held at El Valle and elsewhere were at "imminent risk of removal" under the Alien Enemies Act. 

2:31 p.m. – Thomas Cartwright – a finance executive-turned-immigration activist – says on the social media site X that he has spotted "TWO HIGHLY UNUSUAL ICE flights showing up now from Harlingen to El Salvador," adding that in the past 1-1/2 months there had only been one such flight. "Venezuelan deportation??" he wrote. Harlingen Airport is a half-hour drive from El Valle. 

5:00 p.m. – Judge James Boasberg begins holding a hearing via videoconference in the ACLU's case.  

5:26 p.m. – A GlobalX Airbus A320 bearing the tail number N278GX departs Harlingen. 

5:45 p.m. – A GlobalX Airbus A320 bearing the tail number N837VA departs Harlingen. 

Between 6:45 p.m. and 6:48 p.m. – Judge Boasberg blocks the application of the Alien Enemies Act, telling lawyers for the government that "you shall inform your clients of this immediately, and that any plane containing these folks – because it's going to take off or it's in the air – needs to be returned to the United States." Boasberg immediately repeats the instruction, telling the lawyers, "those people need to be returned to the United States, however that's accomplished, by turning around the plane or not embarking anyone on the plane." He then underlines the point a third time, telling the government lawyers: "This is something that you need to make sure is complied with immediately." 

7:25 p.m. – Judge Boasberg's order hits the docket. 

7:37 p.m. – N278GX lands in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, on its way to El Salvador. 

7:37 p.m. – A GlobalX Airbus A320 bearing the tail number N630VA departs Harlingen. 

8:10 p.m. – N837VA lands in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, on its way to El Salvador. 

9:50 p.m. – N630VA lands in Comayagua, Honduras, on its way to El Salvador. 

11:10 p.m. — N278GX lands in San Salvador, El Salvador. 

11:43 p.m. – N837VA departs Tegucigalpa, Honduras on its way to El Salvador. 

Sunday 

12:18 a.m. – N837VA lands in San Salvador, El Salvador. 

1:08 a.m. – N630VA lands in San Salvador, El Salvador. 

8:13 a.m. – Salvadorian president Nayib Bukele publishes a choreographed video, set to martial music, of migrants being dragged from planes in shackles and hustled into buses amid a massive security presence. Three GlobalX jets are visible in the video, including one bearing the tail number N837VA. Bukele says the prisoners will be forced to work to pay for their upkeep. In response, Elon Musk, Trump's tech baron ally, responds saying, "Much appreciated." Bukele's post is also shared by Secretary of State Marco Rubio. 

(Reporting by Raphael Satter, Ted Hesson, and David Shephardson in Washington, Editing by Rosalba O'Brien)