A federal appeals court on Friday granted an emergency motion sought by the Justice Department to pause contempt hearings that were scheduled to begin next week over the Trump administration’s deportation of Venezuelan migrants under the Alien Enemies Act.
U.S. District Judge James Boasberg last Monday ordered top DOJ attorney Drew Ensign and former DOJ attorney Erez Reuveni to testify next week as part of an inquiry into why the administration continued to transport two planeloads of migrants to the notorious CECOT mega-prison in El Salvador, despite his verbal order to turn the planes around.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, in a 2-1 ruling on Friday, temporarily blocked the contempt inquiry, according to a court filing.
In its emergency motion, the DOJ said the hearings would be a “circus” and accused Judge Boasberg of engaging in harassment.
“This latest order portends a circus that threatens the separation of powers and the attorney-client privilege alike,” they wrote.
The Trump administration in March invoked the Alien Enemies Act — an 18th century wartime authority used to remove noncitizens with little-to-no due process — to deport two planeloads of alleged migrant gang members to El Salvador by arguing that the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua is a “hybrid criminal state” that is invading the United States.
Boasberg issued a temporary restraining order and ordered that the planes be turned around, but Justice Department attorneys said his oral instructions directing the flight to be returned were defective, and the deportations proceeded as planned.
The judge ordered the DOJ testimony after he said the Trump administration failed to provide enough information to determine if Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem willfully violated his order when she decided to continue transporting the detainees to El Salvador.
“This long-running saga never should have begun; should not have continued at all after this Court’s last intervention; and certainly should not be allowed to escalate into the unseemly and unnecessary interbranch conflict that it now imminently portends,” DOJ attorneys said in their filing seeking the pause.
