WASHINGTON 鈥� A federal judge said Wednesday he found probable cause to hold the Trump administration in criminal contempt of court for violating his orders last month to turn around planes carrying deportees to an El Salvador prison.
The ruling from U.S. District Judge James E. Boasberg, whom President Donald Trump has said should be impeached, marks a dramatic battle between the judicial and executive branches of government over the president's powers to carry out key White House priorities.
Boasberg accused administration officials of rushing deportees out of the country under the Alien Enemies Act last month before they could challenge their removal in court, and then willfully disregarding his order that planes already in the air should return to the United States.
The judge warned he could hold hearings and potentially refer the matter for prosecution if the administration does not act to remedy the violation. If the Justice Department declines to prosecute the matter, Boasberg said he will appoint another attorney to do so.
"The Constitution does not tolerate willful disobedience of judicial orders 鈥� especially by officials of a coordinate branch who have sworn an oath to uphold it," wrote Boasberg, the chief judge of Washington's federal court.
The administration said it would appeal.
Administration officials repeatedly criticized judges for reigning in the president's actions, accusing the courts of improperly impinging on his executive powers.
Trump and his allies called for impeaching Boasberg, prompting a rare statement from Chief Justice John Roberts, who said "impeachment is not an appropriate response to disagreement concerning a judicial decision."
Boasberg said the government could avoid contempt proceedings if it takes custody of the deportees, who were sent to the El Salvador prison in violation of his order, so they have a chance to challenge their removal. It was not clear how that would work because he said the government "would not need to release any of those individuals, nor would it need to transport them back to the homeland."
The judge did not say which official or officials could be held in contempt. He gave the government until April 23 to explain the steps it has taken to remedy the violation, or instead identify the individual or people who made the decision not to turn the planes around.
In a separate case, the administration has acknowledged wrongly deporting Kilmar Abrego Garcia to the El Salvador prison, but does not intend to return him to the U.S. despite a Supreme Court ruling that the administration must "facilitate" his release.
The judge in that case said she is determining whether to undertake contempt proceedings, saying officials "appear to have done nothing to aid in Abrego Garcia's release from custody and return to the United States."
Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen traveled to El Salvador on Wednesday and met with the country's vice president to push for the release of Abrego Garcia, who was sent there by the Trump administration in March despite an immigration court order preventing his deportation.
Van Hollen, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said at a news conference in San Salvador after the meeting that Vice President F茅lix Ulloa said his government could not return Abrego Garcia to the United States and refused to allow Van Hollen to visit him in the notorious gang prison where he is being held.
鈥淲hy is the government of El Salvador continuing to imprison a man where they have no evidence that he鈥檚 committed any crime and they have not been provided any evidence from the United States that he has committed any crime?" Van Hollen told reporters after the meeting. 鈥淭hey should just let him go.鈥�
The Trump administration and Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele said this week they have no basis to send him back, despite the U.S. Supreme Court order.聽
Trump officials claim Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran citizen who was living in Maryland, has ties to the MS-13 gang, but his attorneys say the government provided no evidence of that and Abrego Garcia disputed that claim. He has never been charged with any crime related to such activity.
"We have an unjust situation here," Van Hollen said. "The Trump administration is lying about Abrego Garcia. The American courts have looked at the facts."
Boasberg, who was nominated for the federal bench by Democratic President Barack Obama, ordered the administration last month not to deport anyone in its custody under the Alien Enemies Act after Trump invoked the 1798 wartime law over what he claimed was an invasion by the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua.
When Boasberg was told there were already planes in the air headed to El Salvador, which has agreed to house deported migrants in a notorious prison, the judge said the aircraft needed to be returned to the United States.
Hours later, El Salvador's president, Nayib Bukele, announced that the deportees arrived in his country. In a social media post, he said, "Oopsie聽鈥� too late" above an article referencing Boasberg's order.
The Supreme Court this month vacated Boasberg's temporary order blocking the deportations under the Alien Enemies Act, but said the immigrants must be given a chance to fight their removals before they are deported. The conservative majority said the legal challenges must take place in Texas, instead of a Washington courtroom.