Judge questions White House’s refusal to turn around deportation flights

A US federal judge has questioned why the Trump administration failed to obey his order halting the deportations of alleged Venezuelan gang members.

James Boasberg, the top federal judge in Washington DC, ordered deportation flights to be turned around on Saturday night.

White House officials argued in a court filing that they did not defy the ruling. The argued in part that because Boasberg’s order was made orally rather than in written form, it was not enforceable – and that the planes had already left the US by the time it was issued.

Boasberg has ordered the administration to give further details about the deportations by noon (16:00 GMT) on Tuesday.

He has requested further details about the timing of the order under which the deportations occurred, as well as details about the flights themselves.

During a hearing on Monday, Boasberg said he clearly ordered the government to turn the planes around.

“You’re saying that you felt you could disregard it because it wasn’t in a written order?” he asked Department of Justice lawyers.

In the same hearing on Monday, the judge said he would not make another ruling in the case until a hearing scheduled for Friday.

In the meantime, government lawyers said that the deportations had been paused. The Trump administration also asked in a court motion that Boasberg be removed from the case.

The dispute began over the weekend when a group of 238 alleged Venezuelan gang members, plus 23 alleged members of the international MS-13 gang, were sent from the US to a prison in El Salvador.

Credit: bbc.com

 

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