WASHINGTON: A US judge said Wednesday he had found “probable cause” to hold President Donald Trump’s administration in contempt in a deportation case, raising the stakes in the White House’s confrontation with the justice system.
The White House said it planned an “immediate” appeal to the decision by District Judge James Boasberg, who had ordered the government to halt flights of more than 200 alleged gang Venezuelan members to El Salvador.
Boasberg issued a temporary restraining order on March 15 to halt the deportations, which were carried out under an obscure wartime law, the 1798 Alien Enemies Act, which strips away the usual legal due process.
In a written opinion, the judge cited evidence that the government had engaged in “deliberate or reckless disregard” of his order when it proceeded with the flights.
“Defendants provide no convincing reason to avoid the conclusion that appears obvious... that they deliberately flouted this Court’s written Order and, separately, its oral command that explicitly delineated what compliance entailed,” he wrote.
The administration’s actions were “sufficient for the court to conclude that probable cause exists to find the government in criminal contempt,” Boasberg wrote.
The judge said the government would be offered a final chance to “purge such contempt” or face further court action.
Since his return to the White House in January, Trump has flirted with open defiance of the judiciary following setbacks to his right-wing agenda, with deportation cases taking center stage.
“We plan to seek immediate appellate relief,” White House Communications Director Steven Cheung said in a statement after the judge’s 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.”
In invoking the Alien Enemies Act — which had only been used previously during the War of 1812, World War I and World War II — Trump said he was targeting transnational gangs he had declared foreign terrorist organizations.
That included the Venezuelan group Tren de Aragua, but lawyers for several of the deported Venezuelans have said that their clients were not gang members, had committed no crimes and were targeted largely on the basis of their tattoos.
Trump has routinely criticized rulings that curb his policies and power, and attacked the judges who issued them, including Boasberg.
The Republican president said Wednesday that US courts are “totally out of control,” writing on his Truth Social platform: “They seem to hate ‘TRUMP’ so much, that anything goes!“
His administration is also under fire over its admission that Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who was living in the eastern state of Maryland and married to a US citizen, was deported to a notorious prison in El Salvador due to an “administrative error.”
A judge has ordered Trump to “facilitate” his return, an order upheld by the Supreme Court, but his government has said the court did not have the authority to order it to have him returned.
Trump has alleged that Abrego Garcia is “an MS-13 Gang Member and Foreign Terrorist from El Salvador,” while Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt claimed that he was “engaged in human trafficking.”
The man has never been charged with any crimes.
US judge says ‘probable cause’ to hold Trump admin in contempt
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US judge says ‘probable cause’ to hold Trump admin in contempt
- Lawyers for several of the deported Venezuelans have said that their clients were not gang members, had committed no crimes and were targeted largely on the basis of their tattoos
Congressional Black Caucus and civil rights leaders unite to counter Trump administration’s agenda
- Rep. Yvette Clarke of New York, caucus chair, lamented the concerted effort to roll back civil rights underlying voting access and dismantling of social programs
- Civil rights leaders and Democratic lawmakers have already filed dozens of lawsuits against the administration’s anti-DEI policies
WASHINGTON: The Congressional Black Caucus and major civil rights groups on Tuesday marked Black History Month by relaunching a national plan to mobilize against what they say are the Trump administration’s efforts to weaken legal protections for minority communities.
The assembled leaders voiced outrage over the series of policy actions President Donald Trump has implemented since his return to the White House, as well as the president’s personal conduct, but offered few concrete details about what they’re prepared to do in response to the administration.
“Over the past year, we have seen a concerted effort to roll back civil rights underlying voting access, dismantle social programs and concentrate power in the hands of the wealthy and well-connected, at the expense of our community,” said Rep. Yvette Clarke, D-N.Y., chair of the Congressional Black Caucus.
Clarke, who spoke in front of leaders from major civil rights organizations and her Democratic colleagues, promised the caucus would “legislate, organize, mobilize our communities.” The coalition, which spoke privately before the press conference, discussed how to protect voters ahead of the fall midterms and how to build a policy agenda for Democrats should the party win back power in either chamber of Congress next year.
“It’s an all-hands-on-deck moment, and every tool available to the leadership collectively has got to be deployed to get this thing turned around,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., told The Associated Press after the press conference.
Jeffries did not rule out mass protests, organizing boycotts and further legal action as potential steps organizers may take.
The leaders’ warnings come at a moment when the Trump administration has continued its crusade against diversity, equity and inclusion across the US government, in higher education and the private sector.
At the start of his second term, Trump signed multiple executive orders banning the use of “illegal DEI” in government agencies, as well as organizations that interact with the federal government. Trump has threatened to withhold funds from major companies, non-profit groups and state governments as part of the administration’s efforts to upend DEI.
The administration has also sought to redefine the nation’s culture and how history is taught in museums, classrooms and other educational settings. It also prioritized investigating and prosecuting civil rights cases of potential discrimination against white people through both the Justice Department’s civil rights division and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, among other agencies.
Civil rights leaders and Democratic lawmakers have already filed dozens of lawsuits against the administration’s anti-DEI policies.
Locked out of power in both chambers of Congress, Democrats have fewer ways to conduct oversight or limit the actions of the Trump administration. And civil rights leaders, who were largely knocked on the back foot by a deluge of policy changes over the last year, are attempting to regroup ahead of this year’s midterm elections.
Progressive civil rights leaders, who are broadly unhappy with the administration’s entire agenda, have argued that the president’s agenda on immigration, voting rights, the economy and other issues is exploiting hard-won policies that civil rights leaders had, for decades, used to ensure anti-discrimination and economic advancement for Black communities.
“This is about how this administration is using the tools we built as a Black community to ensure that all of our people are protected,” said Maya Wiley, president and CEO of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights.
Progressive state leaders and civil rights groups have also stepped up their efforts elsewhere. A coalition of state attorneys general and civil rights groups this month launched a coalition to promote DEI and accessibility policies through more aggressive legal action.
“State attorneys general are in a unique position to defend these fundamental rights, and this campaign will ensure everyone is heard and shielded from those who aim to weaken civil rights,” Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul said in a statement on Monday announcing the initiative.
The initiative includes Democratic attorneys general from fourteen states District of Columbia, as well as over a dozen civil rights groups from across the country. The group intends to launch inquiries and file lawsuits across the country into instances where, the leaders argue, organizations may be violating anti-discrimination laws in response to the rollback of DEI policies by major companies and the Trump administration.
The effort faces an uncertain and shifting legal landscape.
Federal courts remain divided over the use of race in hiring and anti-discrimination in the workplace. And the conservative-majority on the Supreme Court has ruled against the use of race in college admissions. Several justices have voiced skepticism about how race and other characteristics can be used by government agencies and private institutions, even if a policy was meant to combat discrimination.
On Tuesday, the assembled civil rights leaders repeatedly acknowledged the uphill battle that their movement faced on multiple fronts. Some said that the administration’s policy decisions may set up stark political battles in the coming years.
Marc Morial, president of the National Urban League, said: “We commit today to fight and fight and fight until hell freezes over, and then, I can assure you, we will fight on the ice.”
