Additional Coverage:
- Kristi Noem revealed to have made the final call to defy a court order to halt deportation flights (themirror.com)
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem Identified in Defiance of Deportation Order
Washington D.C. – The Justice Department has publicly identified Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem as the Trump administration official who made the decision to proceed with the deportation of alleged Venezuelan gang members to El Salvador, despite a federal judge’s explicit order to halt the removals. This revelation comes in a recent court filing, shedding light on a contentious incident that has been under judicial scrutiny for months.
U.S. District Judge James Boasberg had issued an oral order on March 15 to return alleged members of the Tren de Aragua gang to the U.S., followed by a written order on the same day. This order specifically blocked the federal government from removing individuals subject to the Alien Enemies Act, a seldom-invoked 18th-century law that President Donald Trump had utilized.
According to the Justice Department’s filing, its officials relayed Judge Boasberg’s orders and legal advice to the acting general counsel for the Department of Homeland Security. This information was then conveyed to Secretary Noem. The deportations, involving 261 individuals on three planes bound for El Salvador, occurred 255 days after Judge Boasberg’s initial order.
The disclosure by the Justice Department is an apparent effort to provide Judge Boasberg with the information he has been seeking for months. The judge had previously indicated his intent to revive criminal contempt proceedings against administration officials who authorized the deportation flights, arguing that the deportees likely did not receive due process.
The Justice Department has maintained that Judge Boasberg’s written order, which halted deportations, did not apply to those who had already been removed from the U.S. The administration has defended its actions as “lawful” and “consistent with a reasonable interpretation of the court’s order.”
In April, the Supreme Court overturned Judge Boasberg’s decision, though it affirmed that high-ranking officials involved in detaining individuals must still receive due process. This ruling was seen as an attempt to prevent officials from being compelled to publicly testify about their actions.
The issue of due process has continued to surface in other legal contexts. In June, a whistleblower alleged that former Principal Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove had instructed subordinates to consider ignoring court orders.
The court filing indicated Bove was among the Justice Department officials who provided legal advice to DHS. Bove has denied these accusations, stating during his Senate confirmation hearings, “I have never advised a Department of Justice attorney to violate a court order.”
While the Trump administration is seeking a final ruling from Judge Boasberg on the matter, the judge is pressing for answers regarding the events of March 15 and why his orders were not followed. An appeals court recently allowed him to proceed with contempt proceedings.
Plaintiffs are seeking the testimony of at least nine current or former Trump administration officials at an upcoming contempt hearing. The potential witness list includes Emil Bove, now a judge on the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals; whistleblower Erez Reuveni, former acting deputy director of the Justice Department’s Office of Immigration Litigation; and Deputy Assistant Attorney General Drew Ensign, whom the Justice Department identified as having relayed Judge Boasberg’s orders to DHS.