An American federal judge announced on Wednesday that he had found a probable cause to hold the Trump administration in criminal tribunal, warning that he could pursue officials who challenged his orders last month by not returning the flights led to a Salvador prison.
The decision, issued by the American district judge James E. Boasberg – that former President Donald Trump previously said, should be dismissed – underlines an important confrontation between the judiciary and the executive branch of the presidential authority and the application of immigration.
Judge Boasberg accused the administration’s officials of hastily deporting individuals under the law on extraterrestrial enemies before having had the opportunity to challenge their dismissal to the court. He also declared that the government had deliberately ignored its directive to hand over planes that had already left.
Boasberg said he could hold hearings and refer the case to continue if the administration fails to approach the violation. If the Ministry of Justice refuses to act, the judge said he would name an independent lawyer to continue the case.
“The Constitution does not tolerate the voluntary disobedience of judicial orders – in particular by the officials of a branch of coordinates who were sworn in to maintain it,” wrote Boasberg, the chief judge of the Washington Federal Court.
The Trump administration said it would appeal the decision.
“The president is 100% determined to ensure that terrorists and illegal criminal migrants are no longer a threat to the Americans and their communities across the country,” wrote the director of communications of the White House Steven Cheung in an article on X.
This occurs while the senator of Maryland, Chris Van Hollen, went to Salvador on Wednesday, where he met the country's vice -president to defend the liberation of Kilmar Abrego Garcia – a man expelled by the Trump administration in March despite an order of the court blocking his move.
Speaking at a press conference in San Salvador after the meeting, Van Hollen, a member of the senatorial committee for foreign relations, said that vice-president Félix Ulloa told him that the Salvadoran government would not make Abrego Garcia in the United States and had denied Van Hollen's request to visit him in the high security prison in which he was detained.
The Trump administration and the president of Salvadoran, Nayib Bukele, said this week that they saw no legal reason to repatriate Abrego Garcia, even if the United States Supreme Court ordered the administration to make efforts to bring him back.
Trump officials allege that Garcia, a national Salvadoran who lived in Maryland, is linked to the MS-13 gang. However, his lawyers argue that no evidence has been presented to support these claims, which Garcia has always denied.
Garcia has not been accused of any crime linked to the activity of the gangs.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt criticized Van Hollen's decision to visit El Salvador to defend Garcia's return.
“It is appalling and sad that Senator Van Hollen and the Democrats applaud his trip to Salvador today are unable to have common sense outdates or for their own voters. And our citizens,” said Leavitt.
