Topline
The Trump administration on Wednesday offered the latest in a string of excuses for why it has deported immigrants despite court orders telling the government not to, claiming it did not violate a recent ruling prohibiting it from removing some migrants because a different agency—not named in the lawsuit— carried out the deportation flights.
More than 250 U.S. migrants arrive in El Salvador by plane on March 16.
Key Facts
The Trump administration submitted a court filing Wednesday admitting that multiple migrants were deported to El Salvador despite a court order that barred the Department of Homeland Security and anyone associated with it from removing migrants to “third countries”—meaning places other than the U.S. or where they initially immigrated from—without first giving the immigrants notice and the chance to challenge their removal in court.
But White House argues it “did not violate” the order because they were deported by the Department of Defense, which is not a defendant in the case.
Homeland Security “did not direct” the Defense Department to remove the migrants, and they were removed on flights that had no Homeland Security personnel on board, the Trump administration alleged, noting the Department of Defense is not a party in the lawsuit.
The court order applies to the Department of Homeland Security “and all of their officers, agents, servants, employees, attorneys, successors, assigns, and persons acting in concert or participation with them.”
Trina Realmuto, one of the attorneys representing the plaintiffs in the case, told Forbes the filing “demonstrates that the Department of Homeland Security has clearly violated the district court’s order” and called the Department of Defense’s involvement with the deportations “deeply troubling.”
Chief Critic
“We hope the court will hold the government accountable for clearly flouting a judicial order,” Realmuto told Forbes in an email Thursday.
What To Watch For
It remains to be seen whether Judge Brian Murphy, who’s presiding over the case, will accept the Trump administration’s argument that it didn’t violate his order because a different agency was responsible for carrying out the deportations. If he doesn’t, the case could become one of several where the administration now faces the possibility of consequences for defying court orders, after Judge James Boasberg ruled in April it’s likely the Trump administration committed criminal contempt by violating an order not to deport people under the Alien Enemies Act. (The Trump administration denies any wrongdoing.) Lawyers for Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Maryland man deported to El Salvador—which the Trump administration admitted was done mistakenly—have also asked for government officials to be held in contempt for failing to facilitate his return to the U.S., though Judge Paula Xinis has not yet ruled on the issue.
Could Trump Officials Be Punished For Violating Court Orders?
If Murphy—or any other judge—finds there’s evidence that the Trump administration willfully violated a court order, they could choose to hold officials in either civil or criminal contempt. Civil contempt would mean the judge could issue punishments in order to force officials to comply with the order, like putting them in prison or levying fines until a migrant is returned to the U.S. Criminal contempt would mean the court brings criminal charges against officials and prosecutes them for violating a court order. That would also be punishable by fines and/or imprisonment, though legal experts told Forbes that President Donald Trump would likely be able to pardon anyone convicted for contempt.
Key Background
Democrats and legal experts have long warned of the possibility the Trump administration could defy court orders against it, as Trump and top officials have railed against judges blocking the administration’s policies and argued they can’t constrain the president’s agenda. Vice President JD Vance suggested in February judges “aren’t allowed to control the executive’s power,” for instance, while advisor Stephen Miller complained to Fox News on Wednesday about “let[ting] a rogue radical left judiciary shut down the machinery of our national security apparatus” and said Trump would carry out his immigration agenda “over the fighting and opposition of the communist, left-wing judges.” The Trump administration’s deportations of migrants to a prison in El Salvador has ratcheted up those fears, as the administration deported more than 200 people to El Salvador after Boasberg’s order directing them not to, and has kept Garcia in El Salvador despite the Supreme Court directing the government to “facilitate” his removal. The Trump administration, for its part, has denied ever intentionally violating a court ruling, claiming the flights to El Salvador in Boasberg’s case left U.S. airspace before the judge’s ruling came out. The government has also claimed it cannot return Garcia because he is now under El Salvador’s authority. The Trump administration’s use of the Department of Defense to evade the court’s order also comes as Trump has increasingly relied on the military to help with his ambitious mass deportation plan, including using the Department of Defense to carry out deportation flights and sending troops to the southern border.
Further Reading