Overview
- The Justice Department told the court that DHS Secretary Kristi Noem decided in March to keep planes bound for El Salvador after a federal order to return them.
- The filing says Noem acted after receiving legal advice from senior DOJ officials Todd Blanche and Emil Bove and DHS’s acting general counsel Joseph Mazzara.
- Government lawyers argue the written order did not require returning detainees already expelled and say an earlier oral directive was not a binding court order.
- The D.C. Circuit has cleared U.S. District Judge James Boasberg to resume his contempt investigation, with potential sworn testimony as early as December 1.
- Migrants flown to El Salvador were held for months in the CECOT prison, which rights groups accuse of abuses, in a case focused on President Trump’s use of the Alien Enemies Act to speed removals of alleged Venezuelan gang members.