Judge resumes investigation into the Trump administration for possible contempt of court for expelling migrants

Los Ángeles (EE.UU.).– A federal judge announced this Wednesday that he will resume an investigation to determine if Trump administration officials violated a court order prohibiting deportation flights to El Salvador, after an appeals court gave him the green light to continue the investigation, according to the Washington Post. Last April, federal judge James Boasberg had ordered the investigation as part of a process to declare the administration of President Donald Trump in contempt for ignoring a court ruling and having sent more than 200 migrants, mostly Venezuelans, to a maximum security prison in El Salvador.

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The order had been put on hold after the D.C. Court of Appeals blocked the procedure to assess the arguments of the Trump Administration, which challenged Boasberg’s decision. In a hearing this Wednesday in Washington, the judge said that the appeals court had given him the green light to continue the investigation. “My investigation is not about determining whether to declare the government in contempt, but about determining whether there is enough information to refer the case for contempt,” clarified the magistrate quoted by the Washington Post. Boasberg said he will call to declare at least two people related to the case: Erez Reuveni, an informant from the Department of Justice (DOJ), who was fired, and Drew Ensign, a lawyer from the same department whom Reuveni accused of deceiving the court about migrant flights, according to the newspaper. In his first opinion of more than 40 pages, the magistrate accused the Executive of having ignored with “complete disregard” a court order instructing them to reverse the sending of migrants to the Central American country. “The Constitution does not tolerate intentional disobedience of judicial orders, especially by officials who have sworn to respect it,” the judge wrote in his ruling last April. Allowing the Government to “nullify” court rulings, Boasberg added, “would make a solemn mockery of the Constitution itself.” On March 14th, Trump invoked the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, used in times of war, to expel hundreds of Venezuelans whom he accuses of belonging to the criminal organization Tren de Aragua. A day after he invoked the law, Boasberg blocked its use just as two planes were heading to Central America with the migrants and ordered the return of those flights. The planes did not turn back and landed in El Salvador, unleashing an unprecedented legal battle in which Trump suggested bringing the magistrate to an impeachment trial.

Regarding the sending of immigrants to El Salvador, the White House also maintains another judicial dispute in the case of Salvadoran Kilmar Ábrego García, who was expelled along with the Venezuelans and was returned to the U.S. by order of a judge.