The Trump administration continued Tuesday to deny any wrongdoing in how it handled deportations of alleged members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua, saying in a court filing it did not violate Judge James Boasberg’s order blocking the deportations—though the judge has previously suggested he doesn’t buy the government’s arguments.
The Trump administration declined to provide specifics about deportation flights to El Salvador that were sent out as a result of President Donald Trump’s Saturday executive order invoking the Alien Enemies Act, after Boasberg asked them to disclose additional information, claiming providing it would be “inappropriate” because “there was no violation of the Court’s written order” and the government is asking a federal appeals court to allow the deportations.
Archived at https://archive.is/Z62du
e; added that first paragraph and adjusted the headline to make it more clear that this is a new and written refusal to answer this judge’s question, not the one that happened orally at the hearing on March 17th
At this point it seems pretty clear that no more planes are actively planned. I don’t think the judge is going to try to claw those poor people out of the Salvadoran prison.
Might as well slow down a bit, litigate the appeal, and litigate the preliminary injunction to get something more permanent. Then move for sanctions and/or contempt. Let the news cycle recycle, then hit it.