The Obama-appointed judge who blocked President Trump’s use of the Alien Enemies Act to deport Venezuelan gang members, is considering holding officials in contempt of court for their role in allowing deportation flights to take place.
Judge James Boasberg said the administration acted in “bad faith” on 15 March when it sent three deportation flights loaded with hundreds of suspected gang members, at the same time as Boasberg was preparing an emergency court hearing on the legality of the flights.
At a hearing on Thursday, during which he grilled members of the Department of Justice, Boasberg said he is considering holding officials in contempt of court.
According to Politico, Boasberg could impose fines or jail time, and he could even attempt to order El Salvador, where hundreds of the deportees were taken, to return them.
Boasberg has not yet said who in particular he believes was in contempt of court.
It is unusual, but not unprecedented, for executive-branch officials to be held in contempt of court. In Trump’s first term, Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos was held in contempt and fined $100,000 for violating a court order.
Judge Boasberg also drew attention to the case of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who some are claiming was wrongly deported to El Salvador as a suspected MS-13 member.
“Lo and behold, at least one that we know of shouldn’t have been there in the first place,” Boasberg said.
The day after Boasberg’s hearing, another Obama judge ordered Garcia man to be returned to the US by Monday at midnight.
“This was an illegal act,” Judge Paula Xinis told a Justice Department lawyer, according to Politico.
“Congress said you can’t do it, and you did it anyway.”
According to the White House, the man in question, Kilmar Abrego Garcia, was a member of the criminal gang MS-13, which has now been designated a terrorist organization. He is said to have been involved in human trafficking. He was apprehended in Maryland last month, before being flown to El Salvador, where he now resides in President Nayib Bukele’s fearsome CECOT prison.
Judge Xinis, however, said that the accusation of gang membership is “just chatter.”
“In a court of law, when someone is accused of membership in such a violent and predatory organization, it comes in the form of an indictment, a complaint, a criminal proceeding that has robust process so we can assess the facts,” Xinis added.
In response to Judge Xinis’s decision, the White House, via Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, issued a defiant statement.
“We suggest the Judge contact President Nayib Bukele because we are unaware of the judge having jurisdiction or authority over the country of El Salvador.”
Rumours that Garcia was not a gang member have been circulating for at least a week. On Tuesday, Leavitt shut down these rumours during a press conference, stating unequivocally that the Trump administration knows Garcia was a member of MS-13 and that he was involved in human trafficking.
“The administration maintains the position that this individual was deported to El Salvador and will not be returning to our country and was a member of the brutal and vicious MS-13 gang.”