Federal Judge Finds Probable Cause to Hold the Trump Administration in Criminal Contempt For Defying Deportation Pause

(Pool via AP photo)

Judge James Boasberg issued an opinion on Wednesday finding probable cause to hold Trump administration officials in contempt of the court for not complying with his March ruling to turn around airplanes deporting migrants to an El Salvador prison.

“On the evening of Saturday, March 15, 2025, this Court issued a written Temporary Restraining Order barring the Government from transferring certain individuals into foreign custody pursuant to the Alien Enemies Act. At the time the Order issued, those individuals were on planes being flown overseas, having been spirited out of the United States by the Government before they could vindicate their due-process rights by contesting their removability in a federal court, as the law requires,” Boasberg wrote in his opinion, adding:

Rather than comply with the Court’s Order, the Government continued the hurried removal operation. Early on Sunday morning — hours after the Order issued — it transferred two planeloads of passengers protected by the TRO into a Salvadoran mega-prison. As this Opinion will detail, the Court ultimately determines that the Government’s actions on that day demonstrate a willful disregard for its Order, sufficient for the Court to conclude that probable cause exists to find the Government in criminal contempt.

Boasberg was originally appointed by George W. Bush and then elevated by Barack Obama to be the chief judge of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia has come under fire from Trump and his allies for his recent rulings. Trump posted to his Truth Social platform:

This Radical Left Lunatic of a Judge, a troublemaker and agitator who was sadly appointed by Barack Hussein Obama, was not elected President – He didn’t WIN the popular VOTE (by a lot!), he didn’t WIN ALL SEVEN SWING STATES, he didn’t WIN 2,750 to 525 Counties, HE DIDN’T WIN ANYTHING! I WON FOR MANY REASONS, IN AN OVERWHELMING MANDATE, BUT FIGHTING ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION MAY HAVE BEEN THE NUMBER ONE REASON FOR THIS HISTORIC VICTORY. I’m just doing what the VOTERS wanted me to do. This judge, like many of the Crooked Judges’ I am forced to appear before, should be IMPEACHED!!! WE DON’T WANT VICIOUS, VIOLENT, AND DEMENTED CRIMINALS, MANY OF THEM DERANGED MURDERERS, IN OUR COUNTRY. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!!!

The Trump administration’s deportation of migrants to a notorious prison in El Salvador has caused a firestorm of controversy, as the administration later admitted that Kilmar Abrego Garcia was deported by “error.” Subsequent investigations by outlets like 60 Minutes also could not find criminal records in the U.S. or elsewhere for the majority of those deported and imprisoned in El Salvador.

“We cross-referenced that with domestic and international court filings, news reports and arrest records whenever we could find them. At least 22 percent of the men on the list have criminal records here in the United States or abroad. The vast majority are for non-violent offenses like theft, shoplifting, and trespassing. About a dozen are accused of murder, rape, assault, and kidnapping. For 3 percent of those deported, it is unclear whether a criminal record exists. But we could not find criminal records for 75 percent of the Venezuelans, 179 men, now sitting in prison,” reported 60 Minutes correspondent Cecilia Vega.

This is a breaking story and will be updated.