Last month, when officials disregarded his order to turn around two flights carrying suspected Venezuelan gang members to El Salvador.
A federal judge established probable cause that the Trump administration had committed contempt of court.
U.S. District Judge James Boasberg wrote on Wednesday that the administration’s “willful disobedience of judicial orders” without repercussions would be “a solemn mockery” of “the Constitution itself.”
After the Trump administration used the Alien Enemies Act, a wartime tool used to deport noncitizens with little to no due process.
To claim that the gang is a “hybrid criminal state” invading the United States, Boasberg last month ordered the government to turn around two flights carrying more than 200 suspected Tren de Aragua members to El Salvador.
Although authorities have questioned the validity of Boasberg’s order, they have maintained that they “complied with the law” despite failing to turn the flights around.
