update - Judge orders Trump admin to reinstate illegally fired CEO of IAF
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Judge says US government may have 'acted in bad faith' as he weighs contempt over deportation order
WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge said Thursday that the Trump administration may have "acted in bad faith” by trying to rush Venezuelan migrants out of the country before a court could block their deportations to El Salvador.
U.S. District Judge James “Jeb” Boasberg in Washington pressed a Justice Department lawyer to explain the government's actions in a high-stakes court hearing to determine whether the administration ignored his orders to turn around planes that were carrying deportees to El Salvador.
The judge said he could issue a ruling as soon as next week on whether there are grounds to find anyone in contempt of court for defying the court order.
The case has become a flashpoint in a battle between the judiciary and the Trump administration amid mounting White House frustrations over court orders blocking key parts of the president’s sweeping agenda. Trump has called for the judge’s impeachment, while the Justice Department has argued the judge is overstepping his authority.
Boasberg ordered the administration last month not to deport anyone in its custody under the Alien Enemies Act, a 1798 wartime law Trump invoked over what he claimed was an invasion by the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua. The judge also ordered that any planes with Venezuelan immigrants that were already in the air be returned to the United States. That did not happen.
Boasberg, who was appointed to the federal bench by Democratic President Barack Obama, said it appeared the administration had tried to get the deportees out of the country as quickly as possible before a court could step in. He told a Justice Department lawyer he suspects the government may have “acted in bad faith throughout that day."
“If you really believed anything you did that day could survive a court challenge, I cannot believe you would have operated the way you did,” Boasberg said.
The Justice Department has said the administration didn't violate the judge's order, arguing it didn't apply to planes that had already left U.S. airspace by the time his command came down. The Justice Department has noted that the judge's written order said nothing about flights that had already left the U.S. and that the judge had no power to compel the president to return the planes anyway.
The Trump administration has refused to answer the judge’s questions about when the planes landed and who was on board, contending they are considered “state secrets.”
Deputy Assistant Attorney General Drew Ensign told the judge that details about the flights could be diplomatically sensitive, since the migrants were being sent to a third country that had agreed with the U.S. to hold them in their prison. Ensign also repeatedly said he didn’t know any “operational details” of those March 15 deportation flights.
“I had no knowledge from my client that was the case,” Ensign replied when asked if he knew during the court hearing that day that planes were already in the air or were about to take off.
The Trump administration is urging the Supreme Court for permission to resume deportations of Venezuelan migrants to El Salvador under the rarely used Alien Enemies Act. The Justice Department says federal courts shouldn’t interfere with sensitive diplomatic negotiations. It also claimed that migrants should make their case in a federal court in Texas, where they are being detained.
WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge said Thursday that the Trump administration may have "acted in bad faith” by trying to rush Venezuelan migrants out of the country before a court could block their deportations to El Salvador.
U.S. District Judge James “Jeb” Boasberg in Washington pressed a Justice Department lawyer to explain the government's actions in a high-stakes court hearing to determine whether the administration ignored his orders to turn around planes that were carrying deportees to El Salvador.
The judge said he could issue a ruling as soon as next week on whether there are grounds to find anyone in contempt of court for defying the court order.
The case has become a flashpoint in a battle between the judiciary and the Trump administration amid mounting White House frustrations over court orders blocking key parts of the president’s sweeping agenda. Trump has called for the judge’s impeachment, while the Justice Department has argued the judge is overstepping his authority.
Boasberg ordered the administration last month not to deport anyone in its custody under the Alien Enemies Act, a 1798 wartime law Trump invoked over what he claimed was an invasion by the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua. The judge also ordered that any planes with Venezuelan immigrants that were already in the air be returned to the United States. That did not happen.
Boasberg, who was appointed to the federal bench by Democratic President Barack Obama, said it appeared the administration had tried to get the deportees out of the country as quickly as possible before a court could step in. He told a Justice Department lawyer he suspects the government may have “acted in bad faith throughout that day."
“If you really believed anything you did that day could survive a court challenge, I cannot believe you would have operated the way you did,” Boasberg said.
The Justice Department has said the administration didn't violate the judge's order, arguing it didn't apply to planes that had already left U.S. airspace by the time his command came down. The Justice Department has noted that the judge's written order said nothing about flights that had already left the U.S. and that the judge had no power to compel the president to return the planes anyway.
The Trump administration has refused to answer the judge’s questions about when the planes landed and who was on board, contending they are considered “state secrets.”
Deputy Assistant Attorney General Drew Ensign told the judge that details about the flights could be diplomatically sensitive, since the migrants were being sent to a third country that had agreed with the U.S. to hold them in their prison. Ensign also repeatedly said he didn’t know any “operational details” of those March 15 deportation flights.
“I had no knowledge from my client that was the case,” Ensign replied when asked if he knew during the court hearing that day that planes were already in the air or were about to take off.
The Trump administration is urging the Supreme Court for permission to resume deportations of Venezuelan migrants to El Salvador under the rarely used Alien Enemies Act. The Justice Department says federal courts shouldn’t interfere with sensitive diplomatic negotiations. It also claimed that migrants should make their case in a federal court in Texas, where they are being detained.
The judge is being very generous here by using "may have".
(Or the reporter is in ascribing that to him.)
Judge-speak.
If you indicate that you have reached a conclusion before hearing full evidence and submissions, you raise the issue of judicial bias and leave yourself open to a recusal motion.
Judge orders return of Maryland father deported to El Salvador and slams Trump’s ‘unconstitutional’ removal
The arrest and wrongful removal of a Salvadoran immigrant from the United States was unconstitutional “from the moment he was seized,” a federal judge told lawyers for Donald Trump’s administration on Friday.
District Judge Paula Xinis has ordered the administration to return Kilman Abrego Garcia to Maryland from El Salvador after government attorneys argued in court filings that the case was no longer in their hands.
“He was apprehended without legal basis … and without due process,” Judge Xinis said.
Abrego Garcia must be returned to the United States by midnight on April 7, according to the judge’s order.
“This is a highly unusual circumstance. I dare say unprecedented,” she told attorneys for the government. “From the moment he was seized it was unconstitutional.”
Abrego Garcia was deported to El Salvador on March 15, joining dozens of mostly Venezuelan immigrants on removal flights after the president secretly invoked the Alien Enemies Act to summarily deport alleged Tren de Aragua gang members.
Two of the planes were sent to El Salvador under that wartime authority, and a third plane was supposed to only be carrying immigrants with court orders for their removal. Abrego Garcia was on that plane — something administration officials have called an “oversight” — despite no orders for his removal from the country.
In 2019, a judge had blocked Abrego Garcia’s removal after credible testimony that he fears violence and death in his home country, which he fled in 2011 when he was 16 years old. Under that order, he is allowed to remain in the United States legally, and must attend regular check-ins with Immigration and Customs Enforcement. His most recent appearance was in January, according to court documents.
He has no criminal record in either the United States or El Salvador, according to his attorney. He has been living in Maryland with his wife and 5-year-old child, both U.S. citizens, and helping raise two children from a previous relationship.
But government attorneys admitted in court documents this week that Abrego Garcia was placed in removal proceedings due to an “administrative error,” but the administration effectively said it could not return him because he is no longer in the United States and thus not under its jurisdiction.
Following news of the government’s admission, administration officials quickly defended his removal. Vice President JD Vance falsely labeled Abrego Garcia a “convicted gang member.” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt admitted there was a “clerical error” in his case, but claimed, without providing evidence, that Garcia was a “leader” of the MS-13 gang, and “involved in human trafficking.”
Following the court’s order, Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin told Fox News that Abrego Garcia is “not some Maryland father as the mainstream media will have you believe.” She repeated accusations that he is a member of MS-13 and was “involved in human trafficking.”
“It’s unbelievable the framing of this,” she said. “He should be locked up.”
The Independent has requested comment from the State Department. The White House referred to McLaughlin’s comments as its official position.
Kilmar Abrego Garcia, pictured in an undated photo from immigrants’ rights group CASA, was deported from the United States on March 15 despite a court order protecting his removal (AP)
Justice Department lawyer Erez Reuveni, the acting director of the Office of Immigration Litigation, admitted on Friday that there is nothing in evidence that would support authorities’ decision to remove him.
“The plaintiff should not have been removed. That is not in dispute,” he said.
Judge Xinis said the administration’s actions amount to “an outright violation” of the law.
“There’s no lawful way” he could have been removed if he was subject to a court order that blocked his removal, she said.
Asked on what basis the government deported him to a Salvadoran prison that has been condemned by human rights organizations, Erez said: “I don’t know.”
Erez appeared to suggest that the administration was acting against the advice of his office.
A separate federal judge in Washington, D.C., has temporarily blocked Trump from deporting immigrants under the Alien Enemies Act, a block that was upheld by appellate court judges last week. The administration is now asking the Supreme Court to intervene and overturn the judge’s order.
District Judge James Boasberg, who is overseeing that case, is considering whether to hold Trump administration officials in contempt after they appeared to ignore his court orders that blocked the flights from reaching El Salvador in the first place.
The arrest and wrongful removal of a Salvadoran immigrant from the United States was unconstitutional “from the moment he was seized,” a federal judge told lawyers for Donald Trump’s administration on Friday.
District Judge Paula Xinis has ordered the administration to return Kilman Abrego Garcia to Maryland from El Salvador after government attorneys argued in court filings that the case was no longer in their hands.
“He was apprehended without legal basis … and without due process,” Judge Xinis said.
Abrego Garcia must be returned to the United States by midnight on April 7, according to the judge’s order.
“This is a highly unusual circumstance. I dare say unprecedented,” she told attorneys for the government. “From the moment he was seized it was unconstitutional.”
Abrego Garcia was deported to El Salvador on March 15, joining dozens of mostly Venezuelan immigrants on removal flights after the president secretly invoked the Alien Enemies Act to summarily deport alleged Tren de Aragua gang members.
Two of the planes were sent to El Salvador under that wartime authority, and a third plane was supposed to only be carrying immigrants with court orders for their removal. Abrego Garcia was on that plane — something administration officials have called an “oversight” — despite no orders for his removal from the country.
In 2019, a judge had blocked Abrego Garcia’s removal after credible testimony that he fears violence and death in his home country, which he fled in 2011 when he was 16 years old. Under that order, he is allowed to remain in the United States legally, and must attend regular check-ins with Immigration and Customs Enforcement. His most recent appearance was in January, according to court documents.
He has no criminal record in either the United States or El Salvador, according to his attorney. He has been living in Maryland with his wife and 5-year-old child, both U.S. citizens, and helping raise two children from a previous relationship.
But government attorneys admitted in court documents this week that Abrego Garcia was placed in removal proceedings due to an “administrative error,” but the administration effectively said it could not return him because he is no longer in the United States and thus not under its jurisdiction.
Following news of the government’s admission, administration officials quickly defended his removal. Vice President JD Vance falsely labeled Abrego Garcia a “convicted gang member.” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt admitted there was a “clerical error” in his case, but claimed, without providing evidence, that Garcia was a “leader” of the MS-13 gang, and “involved in human trafficking.”
Following the court’s order, Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin told Fox News that Abrego Garcia is “not some Maryland father as the mainstream media will have you believe.” She repeated accusations that he is a member of MS-13 and was “involved in human trafficking.”
“It’s unbelievable the framing of this,” she said. “He should be locked up.”
The Independent has requested comment from the State Department. The White House referred to McLaughlin’s comments as its official position.
Kilmar Abrego Garcia, pictured in an undated photo from immigrants’ rights group CASA, was deported from the United States on March 15 despite a court order protecting his removal (AP)
Justice Department lawyer Erez Reuveni, the acting director of the Office of Immigration Litigation, admitted on Friday that there is nothing in evidence that would support authorities’ decision to remove him.
“The plaintiff should not have been removed. That is not in dispute,” he said.
Judge Xinis said the administration’s actions amount to “an outright violation” of the law.
“There’s no lawful way” he could have been removed if he was subject to a court order that blocked his removal, she said.
Asked on what basis the government deported him to a Salvadoran prison that has been condemned by human rights organizations, Erez said: “I don’t know.”
Erez appeared to suggest that the administration was acting against the advice of his office.
A separate federal judge in Washington, D.C., has temporarily blocked Trump from deporting immigrants under the Alien Enemies Act, a block that was upheld by appellate court judges last week. The administration is now asking the Supreme Court to intervene and overturn the judge’s order.
District Judge James Boasberg, who is overseeing that case, is considering whether to hold Trump administration officials in contempt after they appeared to ignore his court orders that blocked the flights from reaching El Salvador in the first place.
Wait til Laura Loomer gets her hands on this commie liberal pinko!
