Judge: Admin in Contempt Over Deportion04/17 06:10

   

   WASHINGTON (AP) -- A federal judge on Wednesday said he has found probable 
cause to hold the Trump administration in criminal contempt of court and warned 
he could seek officials' prosecution for violating his orders last month to 
turn around planes carrying deportees to an El Salvador prison.

   The ruling from U.S District Judge James E. Boasberg, whom President Donald 
Trump has said should be impeached, marks a dramatic battle between the 
judicial and executive branches of government over the president's powers to 
carry out key White House priorities.

   Boasberg accused administration officials of rushing deportees out of the 
country under the Alien Enemies Act last month before they could challenge 
their removal in court, and then willfully disregarding his order that planes 
already in the air should return to the United States.

   The judge said he could hold hearings and potentially refer the matter for 
prosecution if the administration does not act to remedy the violation. If 
Trump's Justice Department leadership declines to prosecute the matter, 
Boasberg said he will appoint another attorney to do so.

   "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," wrote Boasberg, the chief judge of Washington's federal court.

   The administration said it would appeal.

   "The President is 100% committed to ensuring that terrorists and criminal 
illegal migrants are no longer a threat to Americans and their communities 
across the country," White House communications director Steven Cheung wrote in 
a post on X.

   The case has become one of the most contentious amid a slew of legal battles 
being waged against the Republican administration that has put the White House 
on a collision course with the federal courts.

   Administration officials have repeatedly criticized judges for reigning in 
the president's actions, accusing the courts of improperly impinging on his 
executive powers. Trump and his allies have called for impeaching Boasberg, 
prompting a rare statement from Chief Justice John Roberts, who said 
"impeachment is not an appropriate response to disagreement concerning a 
judicial decision."

   Boasberg wrote that the government's "conduct betrayed a desire to outrun 
the equitable reach of the Judiciary."

   Boasberg said the government could avoid contempt proceedings if it takes 
custody of the deportees, who were sent to the El Salvador prison in violation 
of his order, so they have a chance to challenge their removal. It was not 
clear how that would work because the judge said the government "would not need 
to release any of those individuals, nor would it need to transport them back 
to the homeland."

   The judge did not say which official or officials could be held in contempt. 
He is giving the government until April 23 to explain the steps it has taken to 
remedy the violation, or instead identify the individual or people who made the 
decision not to turn the planes around.

   In a separate case, the administration has acknowledged mistakenly deporting 
Kilmar Abrego Garcia to the El Salvador prison, but does not intend to return 
him to the U.S. despite a Supreme Court ruling that the administration must 
"facilitate" his release. The judge in that case has said she is determining 
whether to undertake contempt proceedings, saying officials "appear to have 
done nothing to aid in Abrego Garcia's release from custody and return to the 
United States."

   Boasberg, who was nominated for the federal bench by Democratic President 
Barack Obama, had ordered the administration last month not to deport anyone in 
its custody under the Alien Enemies Act after Trump invoked the 1798 wartime 
law over what he claimed was an invasion by the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua.

   When Boasberg was told there were already planes in the air headed to El 
Salvador, which has agreed to house deported migrants in a notorious prison, 
the judge said the aircraft needed to be returned to the United States. But 
hours later, El Salvador's president, Nayib Bukele, announced that the 
deportees had arrived in his country. In a social media post, he said, 
"Oopsie...too late" above an article referencing Boasberg's order.

   The administration has argued it did not violate any orders, noted the judge 
did not include the turnaround directive in his written order and said the 
planes had already left the U.S. by the time that order came down.

   The Supreme Court earlier this month vacated Boasberg's temporary order 
blocking the deportations under the Alien Enemies Act, but said the immigrants 
must be given a chance to fight their removals before they are deported. The 
conservative majority said the legal challenges must take place in Texas, 
instead of a Washington courtroom.

   Boasberg wrote that even though the Supreme Court found his order "suffered 
from a legal defect," that "does not excuse the Government's violation." The 
judge added that the government appeared to have "defied the Court's order 
deliberately and gleefully," noting that Secretary of State Marco Rubio 
retweeted the post from Bukele after the planes landed in El Salvador despite 
the judge's order.

   "The Court does not reach such conclusion lightly or hastily; indeed, it has 
given Defendants ample opportunity to rectify or explain their actions. None of 
their responses has been satisfactory," Boasberg wrote.