A federal judge lashed out at the Trump administration on Monday for refusing to provide details about flights deporting Venezuelan migrants under the Alien Enemies Act. This came after he had ordered the planes to be turned around.
During the hearing, a Justice Department lawyer repeatedly said he was “not authorized” to share any information about the flights, which had landed in El Salvador on Saturday evening. This refusal was unusual, as it’s rare for a lawyer to decline to answer a judge’s questions.
U.S. District Court Judge James Boasberg held the hearing after the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed a motion claiming the government had violated a court order that had stopped the deportation flights. The ACLU argued that the government had ignored the judge’s order and did not turn the planes back.
At the hearing, Deputy Associate Attorney General Abhishek Kambli argued that the judge’s oral order was not binding because it wasn’t included in the written order. Judge Boasberg pushed back, questioning whether it was right to ignore the oral order just because it wasn’t in writing.
Boasberg also asked, “Wouldn’t it have been a better course to return the planes to the United States instead of saying, ‘We don’t care, we’ll do what we want’?”
Kambli replied that this was not their approach.
Earlier, the White House also argued that the planes had left U.S. territory before the judge’s written order was issued. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said they had concerns about whether verbal orders hold the same weight as written ones, and their lawyers planned to address these questions in court.
Judges often issue oral orders from the bench, and these are just as binding as written ones.
The ACLU said Boasberg had issued the oral order to turn the planes back around at about 6:45 p.m. EDT. They also pointed out that flight records showed the planes did not land in Honduras until after 7:30 p.m. EDT. The planes then continued to El Salvador, arriving hours after the judge’s orders.
The ACLU also disputed the Justice Department’s claim that no flights had left the U.S. after Boasberg’s ruling, citing media reports.
At the hearing, Boasberg questioned why the government had arranged the flights at all, given that the court had scheduled a hearing about the legality of the flights for later that day.
On Saturday, the Trump administration used the Alien Enemies Act to deport Venezuelans it labeled as members of a gang called Tren de Aragua. El Salvador agreed to take in the 361 deported migrants, but 137 of them were removed under the Alien Enemies Act.
At one point during the hearing, Boasberg expressed surprise at the government’s refusal to answer questions. He also suggested that if the information was too sensitive to be shared publicly, the Justice Department could use a “husher” to block the sound when he approached the bench. He also offered the option to discuss the information in a secure setting, noting that Kambli had not indicated that the information was classified.
As the administration seeks to appeal Boasberg’s ruling, it has asked for the judge to be removed from the case, claiming his actions were “unusual and improper.”
At the end of the hearing, Boasberg ordered the administration to provide more information about the flight schedules by noon EDT on Tuesday or explain why they couldn’t do so.
“I’ll put this in writing since apparently my oral orders don’t carry much weight,” the judge remarked.
