Washington (EFE).- A federal judge’s attempt to hold several officials from the Trump administration in contempt for their role in the deportation of Venezuelan migrants was blocked by an appeals court on Friday.
The decision, reached with two judges in favor and one against, accuses Judge James Boasberg of having “abused” his power in an “especially egregious” manner because contempt proceedings entail profound separation of powers consequences that demand the most careful judicial scrutiny.
Judge Boasberg has been a constant target of criticism from President Trump and his administration, who have called him a “left-wing radical” and demanded his resignation.
The US Department of Justice, led by Republican Attorney General Pam Bondi, in turn filed a formal complaint of “misconduct” against the judge by late July.
In April, Boasberg began the process to declare the administration in contempt for ignoring a court order and having sent over 200 migrants, mostly Venezuelans, to the Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT) in El Salvador.
These individuals were released in mid-July as part of an unusual prisoner exchange between Washington and Caracas and sent back to Venezuela.
On Mar. 14, Trump invoked the Alien Enemy Act of 1798, used in times of war, to expel hundreds of Venezuelans whom he accuses of belonging to the criminal organization Tren de Aragua.
One day after he invoked the law, Boasberg blocked its use just as two planes were heading to Central America with the migrants and ordered those flights to return.
The planes did not turn back and landed in El Salvador, unleashing an unprecedented legal battle in which Trump even suggested impeaching the magistrate.
The sending of migrants to El Salvador has provoked a series of lawsuits against the Trump administration and rejection from international organizations.
The NGO Human Rights Watch, in a report published last week, accused the US and El Salvador of having subjected these people to “enforced disappearances.”
The Trump administration has defended the expulsions, accusing the migrants of alleged links to the Tren de Aragua and MS-13 gangs.
Washington has recently designated these two groups as terrorist organizations.
However, multiple investigations by US media have shown that most of those expelled to El Salvador have no criminal records.
The US reached an agreement with Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele to send some migrants detained in the US to CECOT, a prison notorious for reports of human rights abuses.
As part of the deal, whose specific details are unknown, Washington promised to pay El Salvador six million dollars annually to sustain the prison system. EFE
aaca/dgp/mcd