President Donald Trump’s least-favorite judge has accused the White House of acting in “bad faith” when it rushed to deport migrants to a mega-prison complex in El Salvador last month.
District Judge James “Jeb” Boasberg slammed the Trump administration in court on Thursday, claiming it would not have been so secretive about its deportation flights—or moved so quickly to carry them out—if it believed those actions were totally legal.
“If you really believed everything you did that day was legal and would survive a court challenge, you wouldn’t have operated the way you did,” Boasberg told government attorneys on Thursday, reported Politico.
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Trump and Boasberg have clashed since March 15. That is when three planes of alleged gang members—a handful given such a designation for having seemingly innocent tattoos—were flown to El Salvador despite Boasberg ruling mid-flight that their removals, justified by the Trump administration using a 1798 wartime law, should be temporarily barred and the planes turned around.
The flights continued to El Salvador despite Boasberg’s ruling, however. The federal judge has since embarked on a fact-finding mission to determine if any officials knowingly defied a judicial command—and, if so, whether he should hold contempt proceedings for them or not.
Boasberg said Thursday he could issue a ruling as early as next week on whether there are grounds to find someone in contempt of court.
The judge also clarified in court that his initial order did not call for the release of migrants believed to be part of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Araugua or El Salvador’s MS-13. However, he said removals should have gone through “well-established processes” before sending migrants to a foreign mega-prison infamous for its hellish conditions.
Boasberg said a lawsuit opposing the deportations reached his desk at 7:30 a.m. on a Saturday and it was sheer luck he was free to act on it so quickly. Boasberg said “the rush appeared intended to avoid litigation and court scrutiny,” Politico reported.
The flights would take off hours later—despite Boasberg scheduling a hearing for that same evening to determine the legality of the deportations under the 18th century’s Alien Enemies Act.
It remains unknown the exact time and place the flights carrying migrants touched down in Central America. Boasberg asked government attorneys to provide details, but they have refused and claimed it is considered “state secrets.”
Boasberg said Thursday it is “pretty sketchy looking” the Department of Justice will not divulge that information to him even in a classified setting.
Trump last month called for Boasberg to be impeached for his defiance. That rhetoric led the conservative Chief Justice John Roberts to rebuke the president.
Trump has since slowed his social media attacks on Boasberg as the issue plays out in court.
