Judge finds cause to hold Trump administration in criminal contempt for
violating deportation order
[April 17, 2025]
By ALANNA DURKIN RICHER and MICHAEL KUNZELMAN
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.
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A mega-prison known as Detention Center Against Terrorism (CECOT)
stands in Tecoluca, El Salvador, March 5, 2023. (AP Photo/Salvador
Melendez, File)
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.
___
Associated Press writer Mark Sherman contributed to this report.
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