The judge says that the American government may have “acted in bad faith” when he weighs contempt rather than the expulsion order

By Lindsay Whitehurst, Michael Kunzelman and Alanna Durkin Richer

Washington (AP) – A federal judge said Thursday that Trump administration may have “acted in bad faith” trying to precipitate Venezuelan migrants outside the country before a court could block their deportations to El Salvador.

US District Judge Jeb Boasberg in Washington put pressure on a lawyer from the Ministry of Justice to explain the government’s actions at a high hearing at high issues in order to determine whether the administration has ignored its orders to overthrow planes which transported deportees to El Salvador.

The judge said he could make a decision next week to find out if there were reasons to find someone in the court for challenging the court order.

The case has become a flash point in a battle between the judiciary and the Trump administration in the midst of the frustrations of the White House with regard to the judicial orders blocking the key parts of the president’s radical agenda. Trump called for the dismissal of the judge, while the Ministry of Justice argued that the judge exceeds his authority.

Boasberg ordered the administration last month to deport anyone under his custody under the law on extraterrestrial enemies, a law of 1798 in wartime that Trump invoked what he claimed to be an invasion of the Venezuelan gang Tren of Aragua. The judge also ordered that all planes with Venezuelan immigrants who were already in the air returned to the United States. It did not happen.

Boasberg, who was appointed to the federal bench by Democratic President Barack Obama, said that he seemed that the administration had tried to get the country’s deportees out of the country before a court could intervene.

“If you really thought that something you were doing today could survive a legal challenge, I cannot believe that you would have exploited the way you did it,” said Boasberg.

The Ministry of Justice said that the administration had not violated the judge’s order, arguing that it did not apply to planes that had already left us an American airspace when its command fell. The Ministry of Justice noted that the judge’s written order said nothing about the flights that had already left the United States and that the judge did not have the power to force the president to return the planes anyway.

The Trump administration refused to answer questions from the judge on the moment when the planes landed and which was on board, saying that they are considered “state secrets”. The Administration said that providing information to the judge, even if it is not publicly published, to affect “diplomatic problems and national security”.

The Trump administration urges the Supreme Court for the authorization to postpone the deportations of Venezuelan migrants to Salvador under the law on extraterrestrial enemies rarely used. The Ministry of Justice says that federal courts should not interfere with sensitive diplomatic negotiations. He also said that migrants should assert their business before a Federal Court in Texas, where they are detained.

Originally published: April 3, 2025 at 1:55 p.m.