A US federal judge has reprimanded government lawyers as he questioned President Donald Trump’s invocation of a wartime law to deport hundreds of Venezuelan migrants.
Judge James Boasberg repeatedly clashed with justice department attorney Drew Ensign during a court hearing in Washington DC, saying he was not used to such “intemperate, disrespectful language” in government filings.
Trump last Saturday deported 238 Venezuelan alleged gang members to a mega-prison in El Salvador after invoking the 1798 Alien Enemies Act, last used during World War Two.
Speaking in the Oval Office earlier on Friday, the Republican president insisted his administration was getting “bad people out of our country”, and renewed his attacks on Judge Boasberg, describing him as a “radical left lunatic”.
The Trump administration maintains the men were “carefully vetted” and verified as gang members before being flown to El Salvador.
Some of their family members, however, have disputed that allegation, and US officials have acknowledged “many” of the men have no US criminal record. Venezuela’s interior ministry has also disputed that the men had links to the Tren de Aragua gang.
At Friday’s hearing, Judge Boasberg said he agreed that the US president had “wide latitude” to enforce immigration law.
But he expressed reservations that the deported migrants had no legal remedy to contest whether they were gang members or not.
“The policy ramifications of this are incredibly troublesome and problematic and concerning,” Judge Boasberg said.
Last Saturday, he issued a verbal order to the government to turn around the deportation flights, but the White House said it was too late as the planes were already in international airspace.
The timing of the flights was a contentious issue in court on Friday.
“Did you not understand that when I said do that immediately, I meant it?” Judge Boasberg told Mr Ensign.
He vowed to hold the Trump administration accountable, if necessary, if they violated his court order.
“The government’s not being terribly co-operative at this point, but I will get to the bottom of whether they violated my word,” he said.
The judge could hold specific Trump officials in contempt of court for defying his ruling, although the president himself has broad immunity from any legal repercussions for official acts while in office.
The case has raised constitutional questions about the US system of checks and balances, under which government agencies are expected to comply with a federal judge’s ruling.
At another hearing on Thursday, Judge Boasberg dismissed a government court filing on the migrant deportation flights as “woefully insufficient”.
Trump and members of his administration have been criticising the judge. The US president has called for him to be impeached, and accused him of trying to usurp the presidency.
Earlier this week Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts issued a rare admonishment, without naming Trump, saying that impeachment was “not an appropriate response”.
The government has since appealed against Judge Boasberg’s temporary restraining order to the DC Circuit Court of Appeals, with an oral hearing in the case scheduled for Monday.