Chief Judge James Boasberg of the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C. said Wednesday that he has given the Trump administration "ample opportunity to rectify or explain" why it violated his order last month to stop planes flying hundreds of Venezuelan migrants to El Salvador, where they are being held in a notorious prison—and warned that he could soon hold officials in contempt of court.
"The court ultimately determines that the government's actions on that day demonstrate a willful disregard for its order, sufficient for the court to conclude that probable cause exists to find the government in criminal contempt," Boasberg wrote in the 46-page ruling.
The ruling pertained to the clear instructions Boasberg gave administration lawyers last month when he issued a nationwide restraining order in response to President Donald Trump's invoking of the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 and deployment of two deportation flights.
Boasberg noted that his ruling stands even though his order last month was vacated by the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled that the case regarding the deportation flights should have been filed in Texas, where the Venezuelan migrants were flown from, instead of Washington, D.C.
"That court's later determination that the [temporary restraining order] suffered from a legal defect, however, does not excuse the
government's violation," said Boasberg. "If a party chooses to disobey the order—rather than wait for it to be reversed through the judicial process—such disobedience is punishable as contempt."
The case regarding Trump's use of the Alien Enemies Act—which he invoked to fast-track the expulsion of 238 migrants accused of being in the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua despite a lack of criminal history or convictions for many of them—has unfolded alongside another case in the Washington D.C. court, in which Judge Paula Xinis has demanded the administration work to free one migrant mistakenly sent to El Salvador's Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT).
Xinis said Tuesday she was opening an inquiry into the Department of Justice's refusal to comply with a unanimous Supreme Court ruling that ordered the return of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Maryland resident who has denied allegations that he is a member of the gang MS-13 and who had court-ordered protection from being deported to El Salvador.
In Boasberg's ruling, the judge warned that the Trump administration can "purge its contempt" by affording due process to the Venezuelan migrants it sent to El Salvador.
"And if they don't, then we're heading towards a special prosecutor for criminal contempt prosecutions," said Aaron Reichlin-Melnick of the American Immigration Council.
Being found in criminal contempt could result in fines or prison time for Trump administration officials.
"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.
He cited the 1795 ruling in United States v. Peters, adding "To permit such officials to freely 'annul the judgments of the courts of the United States' would not just 'destroy the rights acquired under those judgments'; it would make 'a solemn mockery' of 'the Constitution itself.'... So fatal a result must be deprecated by all."
