White House says it will appeal ruling that administration flouted court order on deportation flights.A judge in the United States has said there is “probable cause” to hold US President Donald Trump’s administration in criminal contempt for disregarding his order to turn around deportation flights to El Salvador.
In a written ruling on Wednesday, US District Judge James Boasberg said the Trump administration had shown “willful disregard” for his March 15 ruling that the government could not deport alleged Venezuelan gang members under an 18th-century wartime law without giving them a chance to challenge their removal.
The Trump administration’s actions were “sufficient for the court to conclude that probable cause exists to find the government in criminal contempt,” Boasberg said in his 46-page ruling.
“The Court does not reach such conclusion lightly or hastily; indeed, it has given Defendants ample opportunity to rectify or explain their actions,” Boasberg added.
“None of their responses has been satisfactory.”
Boasberg said the administration still had the opportunity to avoid being held in contempt if it allowed deportees to oppose their removals in court. Advertisement
White House Communications Director Steven Cheung said the administration would appeal the ruling.
“The President is 100 percent committed to ensuring that terrorists and criminal illegal migrants are no longer a threat to Americans and their communities across the country,” Cheung said in a statement posted on social media.
Boasberg’s ruling is the closest any court has come to suggesting …
