WASHINGTON — A federal judge examining the Trump administration’s use of an 18th-century wartime law to deport Venezuelan immigrants to El Salvador vowed Friday to “get to the bottom” of whether the government defied his order to turn the planes around.
U.S. District Judge James Boasberg in Washington is trying to determine if the administration ignored his turnaround order last weekend when at least two planeloads of immigrants were still in flight.
“I will get to the bottom of whether they violated my order, who ordered this and what the consequences will be,” Boasberg said during a hearing for a lawsuit challenging the deportations.
Earlier Friday, the Justice Department informed the judge that top leaders in President Trump’s administration are debating whether to invoke a “state secrets privilege” in response to the district judge’s questions about the deportation flights.
Deputy Atty. Gen. Todd Blanche said in a court filing that there are “ongoing Cabinet-level discussions” about Boasberg’s demand for more information. The judge ordered the Trump administration to either provide more details about the flights or assert a claim that disclosing the information would harm “state secrets.”
The Republican administration has largely resisted the judge’s request, calling it an “unnecessary judicial fishing” expedition. Boasberg dismissed its response as “woefully insufficient,” increasing the possibility that he may hold administration officials in contempt of court.
Government lawyers filed Blanche’s sworn statement hours before the judge held a hearing for the case Friday in Washington.
The Trump administration has transferred hundreds of Venezuelan immigrants to El Salvador under an 18th century wartime law. Flights were in the air on March 15 when Boasberg issued an order temporarily barring the deportations and ordered planes to return to the U.S.
The Justice Department has said that the judge’s oral directions did not count, that only his written order needed to be followed and that it couldn’t apply to flights that had already left the U.S.
Trump and many Republican allies have called for impeaching Boasberg, who was nominated by President Obama, a Democrat. In a rare statement this week, Supreme Court Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. said “impeachment is not an appropriate response to disagreement concerning a judicial decision.”
Kunzelman writes for the Associated Press.
