April 14 (UPI) -- The District of Columbia U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Tuesday stopped U.S. District Court Judge James Boasberg from holding contempt hearings for the Trump administration after it failed to suspend flights carrying Venezuelan men to an El Salvador prison.
In April 2025, Boasberg found the "government's actions on that day demonstrate a willful disregard for [the court's] order" after he ruled against the deportation flights conducted under the provisions of the Alien Enemies Act.
He had granted a temporary restraining order motion by attorneys for the deportees and told the Trump administration to order the planes back to the United States.
"Rather than comply with the court's order, the government continued the hurried removal operation," Boasberg wrote in the opinion. "Early on Sunday morning -- hours after the order issued -- it transferred two planeloads of passengers protected by the [temporary restraining order] into a Salvadoran mega-prison."
The administration said Kristi Noem, then secretary of Homeland Security, ordered the flights.
