Judge Boasberg To Resume Contempt Proceedings Over Alien Enemies Act Deportations

A federal judge said Wednesday he plans to revive long-stalled criminal contempt proceedings against Trump administration officials who authorized deportation flights to land in El Salvador in March even after the judge ordered them to turn the planes around.

U.S. District Judge James Boasberg, whose initial contempt proceedings were stymied for seven months by the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, said he had the green light to resume after the appellate court lifted the hold on his case last week.

“Justice requires me to move promptly on this,” Boasberg said during a hearing on a lawsuit brought on behalf of men deported under President Donald Trump’s unprecedented peacetime invocation of the Alien Enemies Act. “I will be going forward with it.”

The move by Boasberg, the chief federal district court judge in Washington, reopens one of the most fraught chapters of Trump’s second term: the president’s extraordinary invocation of wartime powers to summarily deport 137 Venezuelans to a notorious anti-terrorism prison in El Salvador. Trump labeled the men members of Tren de Aragua, a violent transnational gang, which his administration labeled a terrorist organization.

Boasberg, who learned of the deportation flights while they were in progress on March 15, ordered the administration to halt the flights, finding that the administration likely violated the due process of the people on the planes, many of whom contested the claim that they belonged to Tren de Aragua.

Boasberg said he intends to receive testimony from former DOJ attorney Erez Reuveni, who was fired in April and has since accused his superiors of flouting court orders related to the deportation flights. He also said he wants to hear from Deputy Assistant Attorney General Drew Ensign, who represented the Justice Department during the March 15 proceedings and told Boasberg he wasn’t aware of any plans for deportation flights — even as the planes were in the air or about to take off.

“I certainly intend to find out what happened that day,” Boasberg said, “and the government can assist me to whatever degree it wishes.”

Justice Department attorney Tiberius Davis repeatedly objected Wednesday to Boasberg’s plan to resume the contempt proceedings. Davis said the fact that the Supreme Court set aside Boasberg’s order not to turn over the prisoners to El Salvador meant there is no basis for the judge to investigate whether officials intentionally defied his directive.

“We think that’s a fundamental problem,” Davis said.

Boasberg, an Obama appointee, made clear he doesn’t see that as an obstacle. He also said that last week’s D.C. Circuit order indicated a majority of that court signaled he was still empowered to find out whether officials deliberately defied him earlier this year. “I appreciate the fact that you disagree with six judges on the court of appeals,” the judge said to Davis.

Boasberg’s decision to wade back into the thorny contempt fight comes as Republicans in Congress have also revived efforts to vilify Boasberg for his role in approving some of the investigative steps former special counsel Jack Smith took in his investigation of Trump for seeking to subvert the 2020 election. Boasberg, who as chief judge oversees all grand jury proceedings in the federal courthouse he leads, signed off on a wide range of subpoenas facilitating Smith’s probe.

Trump has previously called for Boasberg’s impeachment over his handling of the deportation cases, prompting an unusual statement from Chief Justice John Roberts.