Boasberg escalates contempt inquiry over Alien Enemies Act deportations
A federal judge is escalating his inquiry into whether Trump administration officials deliberately flouted his March 15 order to prevent immigration officials from delivering more than 100 Venezuelan men to a notorious prison in El Salvador.
James Boasberg, the chief judge of the U.S. District Court in Washington, said Monday that it’s “premature” to recommend criminal prosecution of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, who revealed last month that she gave the order to turn over the men to Salvadoran authorities on the advice of administration lawyers.
Boasberg is now demanding that two of the top Justice Department lawyers involved in the March deportation operation — including one who has since been fired for resisting some of the administration’s moves — appear for questioning next week.
The Justice Department declined to comment on Boasberg’s order.
Boasberg’s command reignites a long-simmering clash between the Obama-appointed judge and the administration over President Donald Trump’s extraordinary bid to use wartime powers to deport 137 Venezuelan men that he labeled members of a transnational gang. Trump invoked the Alien Enemies Act on March 14, and the men were quickly rounded up and placed on airplanes without a chance to contest their designations as members of the gang.
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/12/08/judge-boasberg-alien-enemies-act-deportations-el-salvador-00681503