Judge James Boasberg will continue a probe into whether Trump administration officials defied his orders after the president invoked the Alien Enemies Act to authorize deportations of alleged Tren de Aragua gang members. An appeals court preserved the judge's ability to investigate, even as it overturned his earlier sanctions ruling. Boasberg may call witnesses—including Erez Reuveni and Drew Ensign—and expects a contempt hearing the week after Thanksgiving to determine who authorized flights that carried migrants to El Salvador despite his orders.
Judge to Resume Contempt Probe of Trump Officials Over Alien Enemies Act Deportations
U.S. District Judge James Boasberg said Wednesday he will continue investigating whether officials in the Trump administration willfully disobeyed court orders after the president invoked the Alien Enemies Act to authorize rapid deportations of alleged members of the Tren de Aragua gang.
Last week a federal appeals court issued an 8-3 decision that left intact an earlier ruling blocking Boasberg's April finding that probable cause existed to believe the government committed criminal contempt. The panel, however, explicitly allowed Boasberg to proceed with a fact-finding probe into whether the administration violated his March orders to halt certain deportations and return people who were en route to El Salvador.
"I will be going forward with it," Boasberg said. "I certainly intend to find out what happened that day." In April the judge concluded the Justice Department's conduct was "sufficient for the court to conclude that probable cause exists to find the government in criminal contempt," and emphasized that the Constitution does not tolerate deliberate disobedience of judicial orders.
The underlying dispute began after the president invoked the Alien Enemies Act, a rarely used wartime statute from 1798, to authorize summary removals of Venezuelans alleged to be members of Tren de Aragua. Migrants immediately sued to block their removal under that law; Boasberg temporarily barred the administration from removing the plaintiffs for 14 days and ordered that people on flights bound for El Salvador be returned to the United States.
Boasberg later issued a broader injunction preventing deportations under the Alien Enemies Act for noncitizens in government custody, though he did not bar removals under other immigration authorities. Despite those orders, planes carrying people whose removals were premised on the act later landed in El Salvador, and many of those transferred were taken to that country's Center for Terrorism Confinement (CECOT).
The appeals panel described the district court's response as "a measured and essential response to what it reasonably perceived as shocking executive branch conduct." The judge said public statements by U.S. officials and El Salvador's president raised further concerns that the orders may have been deliberately disregarded.
Boasberg said he will use additional proceedings and, if necessary, live witness testimony under oath to determine who ordered the flights to continue. Potential witnesses include Erez Reuveni, who admitted in court that a March deportation should not have occurred and was later placed on leave and dismissed by the Justice Department; and Drew Ensign, a deputy assistant attorney general who was the attorney of record in the initial hearings.
In his account, Reuveni said he was summoned to a meeting where a senior Justice Department official stressed that "those planes need to take off, no matter what," and suggested they might have to defy a court order.
Boasberg indicated a contempt hearing could take place the week after Thanksgiving. "Justice requires me to move promptly on this," he said.
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