'Fair likelihood' Trump administration violated court order not to deport Venezuelans, judge says

By Luc Cohen and Ted Hesson

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -There is a "fair likelihood" the Trump administration violated a court order temporarily blocking the deportation of alleged Venezuelan gang members under a rarely invoked 18th-century law, a U.S. judge said on Thursday. 

 U.S. District Judge James Boasberg made the comment at a hearing in Washington to help him determine whether the government violated the two-week ban on such deportations he imposed on March 15 by failing to return two flights that were in the air at the time he issued the ruling. 

The judge ended the hearing without making a final decision, but said he could hold further proceedings to weigh whether certain Trump administration officials should be held in contempt of court. 

At the hearing, government lawyer Drew Ensign said the government had complied with the court's order. 

“It seems to me that there is a fair likelihood that’s not correct and that the government acted in bad faith that day," Boasberg said. 

The episode has prompted concerns among Democrats and some legal observers that the Trump administration may not comply with unfavorable court rulings. Republican President Donald Trump called for Boasberg's impeachment after he blocked the deportations. That prompted a rare rebuke from U.S. Chief Justice John Roberts, who said appeals, not impeachments, were the proper response to disagreements with court orders.

On March 15, Boasberg first blocked the deportation of five Venezuelan migrants, then scheduled a hearing for later that day to determine whether to temporarily bar all deportations of alleged members of the Tren de Aragua gang under the 1798 Alien Enemies Act. 

At Thursday's hearing, the judge said it appeared that after his first ruling that day, the government rushed hundreds of migrants out of the country to avoid the possibility that he would block the deportations. 

The judge - at times raising his eyebrows and peering over his reading glasses - asked Ensign who made the determination that the deportation flights should continue despite his order.

Ensign, whose speech was often stammering throughout the hearing, first invoked the attorney-client privilege preventing lawyers from revealing conversations with their clients, and then said he was not aware of "operational details." 

“As we proceed with potential contempt proceedings that may become relevant,” Boasberg said.

In court papers, Justice Department lawyers have said the migrants had already been deported by the time the judge ruled because the planes had left U.S. airspace. They also said Boasberg lacked the authority to order the government to bring the migrants back from overseas. 

The migrants' lawyers say they were not given a chance to contest the government's assertion that they were Tren de Aragua members before being deported under the Alien Enemies Act. The law, best-known for its use to intern and remove Japanese, German, and Italian immigrants during World War Two, allows foreign nationals to be deported without final removal orders from immigration judges. 

Boasberg has warned of potential consequences if he finds the administration violated his order, but has not said what those could be. 

(Reporting by Luc Cohen in New York and Ted Hesson in Washington; Editing by Noeleen Walder, Marguerita Choy, Leslie Adler and Daniel Wallis)