Boasberg finds probable cause to hold Trump officials in criminal contempt over deportation flights

The judge said the administration had defied his order to stop deportations to El Salvador under the Alien Enemies Act.A federal judge on Wednesday found probable cause to hold Trump administration officials in criminal contempt for what he said was a “willful disregard” of his order to stop transferring deportees to El Salvador for imprisonment in a notorious maximum security prison.

U.S. District Judge James Boasberg found that the government last month rushed to fly two planes carrying hundreds of passengers to the Salvadoran prison in the hours after the judge barred the government from doing 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,” Boasberg wrote in a 46-page decision.

The judge, an Obama appointee, said that the Trump administration had stonewalled and refused to provide information to him in hearings after his initial order, rather than admitting “a grave mistake” and detailing steps to rectify the situation. The Trump administration had invoked the Alien Enemies Act to carry out the rushed deportations, and it argued that divulging details to Boasberg would jeopardize state secrets.

Criminal contempt can be punished by fines or imprisonment. Boasberg did not identify specific officials he might refer for criminal prosecution. First, he wrote, he will give the administration a chance to “cure” the violation — perhaps by arranging a way for the deportees to use the U.S. courts to challenge their detention in the El Salvador prison.

That solution, Boasberg wrote, would not necessarily require bringing the deported men back to the U.S. or even releasing them from the prison.

But if the administration doesn’t rectify the issue, the judge said he may require administration officials to testify under oath so that he can identify the specific individuals responsible for violating his order. He would then request that those individuals be prosecuted.

The judge signaled he could appoint an outside lawyer to prosecute the contempt case if the Justice Department declines to do so.

The White House said it would challenge Boasberg’s ruling. “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 said.

The showdown with Boasberg comes as the Trump administration is already locked in a separate high-stakes confrontation with a judge in another deportation case. U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis has ordered at least four officials to give sworn testimony about the administration’s refusal to take significant steps to comply with her order that they facilitate the return to the U.S. of an illegally deported man, Kilmar Abrego Garcia.