Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem made the decision not to turn around deportation flights in March despite a judge ordering the government to do so, the Justice Department has said, naming several officials who advised her.
In a court filing late Tuesday, the department named “officials who made and advised on the decision not to recall the flights in transit,” carrying migrants to a mega-prison in el Salvador, despite the order.
The judge who gave the order, U.S. District Judge James Boasberg, has resumed his criminal contempt inquiry into the events.
Secretary Noem receiving legal advice before she “directed that the AEA [Alien Enemies Act] detainees who had been removed from the United States before the Court’s order could be transferred to the custody of El Salvador,” the new filing said.
The government said no violation occurred, arguing “the written order, unlike the oral directives, said nothing about returning class members who had already been removed.”
“The Government maintains that its actions did not violate the Court’s order—certainly not with the clarity required for criminal contempt—and no further proceedings are warranted or appropriate,” it added.
Officials Named
- Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem
- Acting general counsel Joseph Mazzara of Department of Homeland Security—advised Noem
- Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche— “provided DHS with legal advice regarding the Court’s order as to flights that
- had left the United States before the order issued.”
- Then-Principal Associate Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove—”provided DHS with legal advice regarding the Court’s order as to flights that had left the United States before the order issued”
- Deputy Assistant Attorney General Drew Ensign—who is also defending the government in this case—”promptly conveyed both this Court’s oral directives and its written order to the Department of Homeland Security”
This is a developing story; updates to follow.