NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!
U.S. District Judge James Boasberg said Wednesday that he will move quickly on a contempt inquiry centered on whether senior Trump administration officials knowingly defied his court order in March when it deported hundreds of Venezuelan migrants to El Salvador despite an emergency order he handed down hours prior — the latest in a high-profile and politically charged immigration case.
He also signaled the court’s strong interest in hearing from two current and former Justice Department officials as witnesses in the revived contempt inquiry, which could be met with fierce opposition by Trump officials, as indicated during the hearing.
At issue is President Donald Trump’s use of the Alien Enemies Act, a 1798 wartime immigration law, to deport more than 250 Venezuelan migrants from the U.S. to a maximum-security prison in El Salvador earlier this year, and whether Trump officials acted in defiance of a March 15 emergency order he issued attempting to block the flights. The fresh action on the contempt issue — and Boasberg’s role at the center of it — is almost certain to spark fresh ire from Trump and his allies in Congress.
WHO IS JAMES BOASBERG, THE US JUDGE AT THE CENTER OF TRUMP’S DEPORTATION EFFORTS?
U.S. District Judge James Boasberg is seen at E. Barrett Prettyman Federal Courthouse in Washington, D.C. (Washington Post via Getty Images)
Boasberg, for his part, seemed unfazed for the duration of Wednesday’s hearing.
“This has been sitting for a long time,” Boasberg said of the stalled contempt inquiry, “and I believe justice requires me to move promptly on this.”
He told both parties at the outset that he plans to move on the contempt inquiry “promptly,” and ordered lawyers for the Justice Department and for the class of Venezuelan migrants to submit to the court by Monday in writing their proposals for how the case should proceed.
“Your Honor, the government objects to any further proceedings of criminal…
