A federal judge will hear from government lawyers on Thursday to determine whether the Trump administration violated court orders when deporting hundreds of immigrants to El Salvador last month.
Hearing marks the latest conflict between presidents Donald Trump Trump publicly attacked the “activist” judge and called on him to impeach each. The question is whether the government intentionally violated Boasberg’s emergency order, which temporarily blocked deportation and required anyone removed from office under centuries-old immigration laws to return to the United States “immediately”. Flights carrying immigrants, including those deported under the Alien Enemy Act of 1798, still landed in El Salvador that night.
“Oh…” El Salvador President Nayib Bukele wrote on X after landing in his country. “It’s too late.”
Boasberg issued an emergency order at the center of controversial and complex cases, saying he intends to find out if the government intentionally violated them and who should be held liable.
“Serious Deficits”: U.S. Judge Rennes Trump Administrator’s Date Deportation Information
President Donald Trump speaks before signing the executive order in the Oval Office on March 31, 2025. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
“The government is not coming,” Boasberg told Lawyer Drew At an earlier hearing. “But I will have a grasp on whether they obey my orders, the orders that violate it and what the consequences will be.”
At Thursday’s hearing, Boasberg is expected to revisit many of the same questions he had raised before, including how many planes left the U.S. manned individuals “deported under the Alien Enemy Act only. Other questions include how many people are on each plane, when and where they take off.
Although the government has filed two appeals to the case – first the DC Tour (upholding Boasberg’s order, then the Supreme Court), the judge is still urging the answer. Thursday’s hearing was part of his efforts to determine whether the government violated the court’s efforts when deporting.
Trump and Boasberg (Gate image)
The Alien Enemy Act was adopted in 1798 and was used only three times in American history – during the War of 1812 and the Two World Wars, modern applications of the Trump administration were rare legal action.
Trump officials argued that in order to expel dangerous people, including members of the Tren de Alagua gang, they flew to El Salvador under the administration’s new deportation policy.
Meanwhile, the plaintiffs have delayed the government’s use of the 1798 law, calling its use in peacetime “unprecedented”.
Submitted to Supreme Court Earlier this week, plaintiffs argued that the law permitted immediate deportation only if foreign countries were “declared as war” or “invasion or predatory invasion”, and the conditions they said did not apply to Venezuelan nationals against dismissed Venezuelan nationals.
Government lawyers declined to disclose key details about the deportation flight, including whether any aircraft departed after Boasberg’s orders, on the grounds of national security protection.
Boasberg had previously warned of the consequences that if it violated his orders and criticized earlier documents for being “seriously insufficient”, it noted that the government also rejected his proposal to submit sealed information.
Judge James Boasberg (Carolyn van Houten/Washington Post via Getty Images)
The case has become a political flashpoint for balancing power between power Court and administrative departments. Trump allies view the participation of most of the judiciary as the work of “activist” judges who try to curb the president and overcompete his constitutional role.
Trump’s demand for Boasberg’s impeachment prompted a rare public condemnation by Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts.
“For more than two centuries, it has been determined that impeachment is not an appropriate response to differences regarding judicial decisions,” Roberts said in a statement. “The normal appeal review process is for this purpose. ”
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The White House has been criticizing the lower courts, with press secretary Karoline Leavitt accusing the judge of going beyond the line and violating the president’s authority last month.
“The government will promptly conduct a Supreme Court review to defend the Constitution and protect the American people,” Levitt said in a statement.
