Federal Judge to Resume Contempt Inquiry Into Trump Officials for Deportations to El Salvador

A federal judge is continuing his investigation into whether the Trump administration defied court orders in a high-profile immigration case involving the Alien Enemies Act, he said Wednesday.

In an 8-3 ruling last week, a federal appeals court left in place an earlier decision that blocked U.S. District Judge James Boasberg’s April order, which said that probable cause exists to find the Trump administration in criminal contempt over its “willful disregard” of his order in March to turn around two planes carrying alleged Venezuelan gang members bound for a prison in El Salvador.

But the panel also found that even though his initial ruling had been struck down, Boasberg, who is the chief judge for the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., could continue his probe into whether the Trump administration had violated his court order.

“The district court’s order here was a measured and essential response to what it reasonably perceived as shocking executive branch conduct,” Judges Nina Pillard, Robert Wilkins and Bradley Garcia wrote in a joint opinion.

“I will be going forward with it,” Boasberg said. “I certainly intend to find out what happened that day.”

In April, Boasberg wrote that the Justice Department’s actions were “sufficient for the court to conclude that probable cause exists to find the government in criminal contempt. The court does not reach such [a] conclusion lightly or hastily; indeed, it has given defendants ample opportunity to rectify or explain their actions. None of their responses has been satisfactory.”

“The Constitution does not tolerate willful disobedience of judicial orders — especially by officials of a coordinate branch who have sworn an oath to uphold it,” Boasberg wrote.

Boasberg will also continue to hear arguments on the merits of the case, which arose after the president issued a proclamation in March invoking the Alien Enemies Act, a seldom-invoked law from 1798, to summarily deport Venezuelans whom his administration claims are members of the gang Tren de Aragua.

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The judge then blocked the Trump administration from conducting deportations of noncitizens in its custody under the Alien Enemies Act. Boasberg’s order did not block the government from deporting the alleged gang members or others under other immigration authorities, however.

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