Judge Vows to Probe if Trump Officials Defied Court Order
A federal judge vowed to keep investigating if Trump administration officials disobeyed a court order halting deportations under an 18th century wartime law.
“I will get to the bottom of whether they violated my order, who ordered this and what the consequences will be,” District Judge James Boasberg said during a court hearing Friday.
The Trump administration last week appeared to have violated Boasberg’s previous order in a lawsuit challenging the Trump administration’s use of the Alien Enemies Act (AEA) to deport hundreds of Venezuelans to El Salvador without due process.
The lawsuit over Trump’s invocation of the AEA was brought by five Venezuelans represented by Democracy Forward* and the ACLU.
President Donald Trump invoked the act in an executive order to deport alleged members of Tren de Aragua, a transnational criminal organization that originated in Venezuela. The Trump administration has not identified the people who were deported and has not provided specific evidence proving they are members of the gang.
Boasberg previously ordered that all deportations be halted. Despite his order, the U.S. flew hundreds of people to an Salvadoran “Terrorism Confinement Center,” where they will perform hard labor for at least a year despite not having a chance to challenge if they are members of the gang.
During Friday’s hearing, Boasberg asked the government’s representative multiple times if he understood the previous order. The DOJ official said he did understand “the intention” of the order.
The ACLU said in the hearing it will soon file evidence that some of the people flown to El Salvador were returned to the U.S. because of misidentifications.
“Some people were landed but had to be brought back because the Salvadoran government wouldn’t take them,” ACLU lawyer Lee Gelernt said, “because one was a mistake and they weren’t Venezuelan or Salvadoran and the others weren’t men and the Salvadoran president didn’t want to take any women.”
The Trump administration previously claimed in court filings those removed were “carefully vetted” and posed “an extraordinary threat to the American public.”
However, it also said many of those “removed under the [Alien Enemies Act] do not have criminal records in the United States” and that the government lacks “specific information about each individual,” though he claimed that the lack of information “actually highlights the risk they pose.”
Some of the evidence used against those deported were everyday tattoos, such as a crown atop a soccer ball or dollar bills formed into a rose, according to court filings.
Boasberg, who was appointed to the D.C. District Court by former President Barack Obama but who was also appointed to D.C. Superior Court by former President George W. Bush, said he found the ramifications of Trump’s invocation “incredibly troublesome and problematic and concerning.”
“I agree it’s an unprecedented and expanded use of an act that has been used, as we discussed, in the War of 1812, World War I and World War II when there was no question there was a declaration of war and who the enemy was.”
Boasberg also questioned the timing of Trump’s proclamation, asking why it was signed “in the dark” without public notice and why people were “immediately rushed onto planes” after it was signed.
“It seems to me, the only reason to do that is if you know it’s a problem and you want to get them out of the country before a suit’s filed,” the judge said.
This week, the DOJ officials argued that Boasberg’s order wasn’t enforceable and also refused to answer any of the judge’s questions on the deportations, like how many people were deported using Trump’s proclamation. They wouldn’t even say why they couldn’t answer the questions.
Gelernt noted that the fact that some people were brought back from El Salvador undercut the government’s argument that turning planes around after Boasberg issued his order was impractical.
Trump and his allies called for Boasberg’s impeachment over his order, while Attorney General Pam Bondi in an official statement from the DOJ claimed the judge supported terrorism by issuing his order.
The threats against Boasberg prompted Chief Justice John Roberts to issue a rare statement rejecting the GOP’s call for impeachment.
*Democracy Docket Founder Marc Elias is the chair of Democracy Forward’s board.