Judge wants to hear from Trump officials after F**k You instruction

The public could soon learn who in the Trump administration was aware of an alleged attempt to ignore court orders barring the deportation of 137 men to a Salvadoran prison.

“The bottom line is that the court has allowed me to move forward with my investigation,” U.S. District Judge James Boasberg said Wednesday at the start of contempt proceedings that resumed in federal court in Washington, DC.

Just a week ago, an appeals court ruled that Boasberg could properly resume a contempt investigation into what the court called “shocking conduct of the Executive Branch” that started seven months ago after President Donald Trump invoked the Alien Enemies Act.

The invocation of wartime authority, according to Trump, allowed him to legally deport immigrants he considered part of a criminal invasion of the United States, namely those who, according to the administration, are members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua.

After invoking the 18th-century law, the administration filled two planes with people suspected of being gang members and rushed them to CECOT, a notorious prison in El Salvador.

Those on the planes, according to their lawyers, were not offered any opportunity to enjoy due process, including the ability to challenge their removal or contest accusations that they were dangerous criminals. Boasberg prevented the administration from deporting noncitizens for at least two weeks, but he quickly learned from Justice Department lawyers that his order had become essentially moot because the planes he had ordered turned around were already in the air.

Boasberg himself cannot accuse the administration of contempt and must instead refer the case to the Justice Department. From there, an independent prosecutor would be assigned to review the court’s evidence.

This is what Boasberg is deploying now.

Boasberg told Justice Department lawyers Wednesday that he is interested in hearing testimony from high-ranking government officials, including Deputy Attorney General Drew Ensign. He said he would also like to hear from Erez Reuveni, a career Justice Department prosecutor who was abruptly fired after accepted in court that the administration had mistakenly deported Kilmar Abrego García, a Maryland resident, to CECOT.

Reuveni, who served as head of the Justice Department’s Office of Immigration Litigation until his firing, denounced the department in June.

In a complaint filed with the Reuveni, before the Justice Department’s Office of Inspector General, Congress and the U.S. Office of Special Counsel, alleged that Justice Department lawyers were explicitly instructed to say “Fuck off” to the judges who ruled against him. Reuveni also accused Ensign of “intentionally” misleading Boasberg about the status of the deportation flights. The career prosecutor also alleged in his complaint that his emails to administration officials highlighting Boasberg’s order were ignored.

Reuveni’s alleged guidance to defy the courts was sent by Emil Bove, Trump’s former personal lawyer turned deputy attorney general, who was later confirmed before a life judge.

AP Photo/Julia Nikhinson, swimming pool

Government lawyers, as well as lawyers for the deported men, will begin submitting proposals Monday on how they believe the proceedings should unfold, including which witnesses to call or who could be brought forward with a written statement in court.

The American Civil Liberties Union represents the deported men, and attorney Lee Gelernt told Boasberg on Wednesday that the deportees still suffer trauma and injuries from their stay at CECOT. Most of those sent to El Salvador and then Venezuela are only asking to have their day in court, he added.

They understand they may still be subject to deportation, he said, but they want due process and the opportunity to prove that, at a minimum, they are not gang members.

And it has been nearly impossible to facilitate due process for these men from afar, Gelernt explained.

Most have a “real fear” of talking about their case over the phone with lawyers.

“It is said that they are being watched, that the phones are tapped,” he said.