A federal judge demanded Monday that the Trump administration explain what happened with deportation flights it allowed to continue Saturday night after he ordered them to turn around, appearing incredulous as the Justice Department pushed a series of arguments for why his command could be defied.
US District Judge James Boasberg told a DOJ attorney during the tense hearing yesterday that he wanted the government to submit by this afternoon answers to a litany of questions about the deportation flights, including the specific times they left US airspace, landed in Central American countries and turned over their occupants to the foreign nations.
The judge also ordered DOJ attorney Abhishek Kambli to explain why he believes that information cannot be shared publicly, as the lawyer claimed in court.
“If you’re saying it’s classified and you can’t show me then you’ll have to make a good showing why that is,” Boasberg said. “I’d be interested to hear what that showing is.”
Some background: The hearing was scheduled shortly after lawyers representing five individuals challenging President Donald Trump’s attempt to use the Alien Enemies Act to quickly deport some migrants — whom the US has accused of being affiliated with the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua — accused the administration of violating orders from Boasberg that intended to temporarily block the administration’s plans.
The administration is arguing, among other things, that it didn’t violate Boasberg’s order since his oral order from the bench said the government must turn planes carrying individuals subject to Trump’s proclamation around, but his written order did not.
Boasberg, an appointee of former President Barack Obama and the current chief judge of the federal trial-level court in Washington, DC, was unhappy with the DOJ’s explanation of things.
He summed up the DOJ’s reasoning as: “‘We don’t care, we’ll do what we want.’”
CNN’s Hannah Rabinowitz contributed to this post.
