Noman Sabit: New filings by the Justice Department (DOJ) say it was Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem who made the decision to rebuff a court order by transferring more than 100 Venezuelan men to Salvadoran custody to be imprisoned.
The disclosure is the latest detail to emerge in an ongoing review of whether to hold in contempt any Trump administration officials who defied a judge’s oral order to turn back the planes carrying the men.
President Trump in March signed an order allowing alleged Venezuelan gang members to be deported under the Alien Enemies Act (AEA), sparking a swift effort by administration officials to deport the men to a Salvadoran mega prison.
“After receiving that legal advice, Secretary Noem directed that the AEA detainees who had been removed from the United States before the Court’s order could be transferred to the custody of El Salvador. As explained below, that decision was lawful and was consistent with a reasonable interpretation of the Court’s order,” the Justice Department wrote in the filing.
DHS did not immediately respond to request for comment.
The Trump administration has argued it was not obligated to follow an oral directive from Judge James Boasberg.
“The Government maintains that its actions did not violate the Court’s order—certainly not with the clarity required for criminal contempt—and no further proceedings are warranted or appropriate,” DOJ wrote Tuesday. Lee Gelernt, an attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union representing the Venezuelan men, said that argument was “without merit.”
“While the government’s filing identifies for the first time some of those involved in the decision to send these men to a notorious Salvadoran prison without any due process, it ultimately raises more questions than it answers,” Gelernt said in an email. “The government’s claim that Judge Boasberg’s order was ambiguous is wholly without merit.”
Boasberg previously found probable cause to ignite contempt proceedings over the matter, an action that was paused for months until an appeals court last week cleared the way for him to begin anew.
The late Tuesday filings are the latest in a saga expected to prompt hearings. Boasberg expects to hear from at least two witnesses: former Justice Department lawyer Erez Reuveni, a whistleblower fired in April, and DOJ lawyer Drew Ensign.
Reuveni claimed that Emil Bove, then the No. 3 official at DOJ but now a federal appeals court judge, floated defying potential court orders blocking the use of the AEA and said the administration may need to tell the courts “f— you.”
He also referenced Ensign, who previously told Boasberg he was unaware if flights would take off in the next 24 to 48 hours.
Reuveni shared texts he sent with another DOJ lawyer discussing what they viewed as Ensign’s lack of candor, saying he was well aware flights were in the works.
“He knows they are being removed,” Reuveni said of Ensign in a text message to a co-worker during the hearing, specifying that he knew “about the flights.” The co-worker agreed and wondered whether Ensign could escape the situation without a sanction.
The underlying case challenging Trump’s use of the Alien Enemies Act is still under Boasberg’s review. The deported migrants were later released from the Salvadoran megaprison known as CECOT and transferred to Venezuela in a large-scale prisoner swap.
BP/SM
