Trump Administration Refuses To Give Information On El Salvador Flights—Claims ‘No Violation’ Of Judge Boasberg’s Order

Topline

The Trump administration continued Tuesday to deny any wrongdoing in how it handled deportations of alleged members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua, saying in a court filing it did not violate Judge James Boasberg’s order blocking the deportations—though the judge has previously suggested he doesn’t buy the government’s arguments.

Key Facts

The Trump administration declined to provide specifics about deportation flights to El Salvador that were sent out as a result of President Donald Trump’s Saturday executive order invoking the Alien Enemies Act, after Boasberg asked them to disclose additional information, claiming providing it would be “inappropriate” because “there was no violation of the Court’s written order” and the government is asking a federal appeals court to allow the deportations.

The government is facing accusations from Democrats, plaintiffs in the case and Boasberg himself that it defied the judge’s court ruling blocking the Trump administration from removing migrants under the Alien Enemies Act, with Boasberg blocking the order during a hearing at approximately 6:45 p.m. EDT Saturday, and then issuing a written order at 7:26 p.m.

Two flights carrying migrants deported under Trump’s order arrived in El Salvador after Boasberg’s ruling was issued, the Trump administration confirmed in a court filing Tuesday, but the government claims it complied with the judge’s order, because the flights departed the U.S. before Boasberg’s written ruling was issued and were out of U.S. airspace by the time the judge blocked the deportations.

The Trump administration has also claimed they believed the judge’s spoken ruling during the hearing didn’t carry any legal weight and officials only had to follow the written ruling, saying in a filing Tuesday that Boasberg’s comments during Monday’s hearing—in which he specifically said any planes that were already mid-flight should be sent back to the U.S.—“were not independently enforceable as injunctions.”

Boasberg expressed skepticism about the government’s arguments in court Monday, calling their claims that he didn’t have any jurisdiction over the flights once they left U.S. airspace to be “one heck of a stretch,” as quoted by the Associated Press.

What Has Judge Boasberg Said About The Flights To El Salvador?

Boasberg heavily questioned the Trump administration Monday over the government’s claims it did not violate his order, with Politico reporting the judge raised his voice at the government and suggested officials intentionally tried to have planes take off prior to Saturday’s hearing in order to get around any ruling he could issue. “I’m just asking how you think my equitable powers do not attach to a plane that has departed the U.S., even if it’s in international airspace,” the judge asked the Trump administration, as quoted by the AP. Boasberg also took aim at the government’s contention that his spoken rulings weren’t binding—saying he’d put next steps about the case in writing because “my oral orders don’t seem to carry much weight”—and asked why the government didn’t just turn the flights around and figure out how to comply with the court’s ruling, instead of ignoring it and taking the migrants to El Salvador. “Isn’t then the better course to return the planes to the United States and figure out what to do, than say, ‘We don’t care; we’ll do what we want’?” Boasberg said, as quoted by Just Security.

What To Watch For

It’s unclear how Boasberg will respond to the Trump administration’s filing and what the next steps for the case will be going forward, though a hearing in the case is scheduled to take place Friday afternoon. Legal experts have suggested the judge could hold the Trump administration in contempt for defying his order, though the judge himself hasn’t yet suggested he could take that step. The Trump administration has asked a federal appeals court to throw out Boasberg’s order blocking the deportations and also remove the judge from the case, accusing him of “highly unusual and improper procedures.” The appeals court has not yet ruled on either of those requests.

Did Any Flights Leave After Boasberg’s Ruling Was Issued?

According to a signed affidavit submitted to the court Tuesday by Immigrations and Customs Enforcement official Robert Cerna, there was one flight to El Salvador that left after Boasberg’s written ruling was issued. The migrants on that flight were deported under different provisions of immigration law than the order that Boasberg blocked, however, so that flight would not be affected by the court’s ruling.

Will Judge Boasberg Be Impeached?

Trump called Tuesday for Boasberg to be impeached over blocking his immigration order, writing on Truth Social, “This judge, like many of the Crooked Judges’ I am forced to appear before, should be IMPEACHED!!!” A number of Trump allies have called for judges to be impeached as they’ve issued rulings against Trump’s policies, but no efforts to formally impeach any judges have yet moved forward. It’s also unlikely any judges will be removed from office even if Republicans support it, as that would require a two-thirds majority of the Senate and Democrats are unlikely to support any of those efforts. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts spoke out against the calls for judges to be impeached in a statement Tuesday, saying, “For more than two centuries, it has been established that impeachment is not an appropriate response to disagreement concerning a judicial decision.”

Key Background

The dispute over the administration’s handling of Boasberg’s order comes after critics have been worried for weeks about the possibility the Trump administration could defy court orders, as judges have increasingly blocked Trump’s controversial policies. Numerous Trump officials have taken aim at judges and suggested they don’t have the power to control Trump, with Vice President JD Vance saying in February that judges “aren’t allowed” to control Trump. The president invoked the Alien Enemies Act—a law traditionally reserved for wartime that gives presidents broad power over deporting some foreign nationals—to target Tren de Aragua, a Venezuela-based gang that’s spread to other Latin American countries and has developed a presence in the U.S., connected to crimes that include gun trafficking, sex trafficking and retail theft in New York City. Immigration lawyers and family members of some of the men deported under Trump’s order have alleged the government’s sweeping deportations include people who do not belong to the gang, however, and were not given due process protections to prove their innocence.

Further Reading