The article discusses a contentious court hearing where Chief Judge James Boasberg mandated the U.S. government to immediately return Venezuelan migrants deported under the Alien Enemies Act. This order sparked a legal back-and-forth, as the DOJ struggled to justify its actions to the court. Tensions escalated when the government claimed the judge's order wasn't valid until written, provoking the judge's ire and leading to demands for accountability on deportation flights. The unfolding situation critiques the government's cooperation with the judicial process and raises significant legal and ethical concerns regarding the treatment of migrants.
At an emergency hearing on Saturday regarding Venezuelan migrants summarily deported to a slave prison in El Salvador pursuant to the Alien Enemies Act, Judge Boasberg ordered the government to return any migrants under DHS control, including those already on airplanes.
Assistant US Attorney Abhishek Kambli argued variously that the judge's oral order didn't count until it was memorialized in writing, that the court lost jurisdiction once the planes departed US airspace, and that he could neither discuss the status of the flights nor explain on what legal basis he was refusing to do so.
This last argument seems to have incensed the judge most of all, and he ordered the government to answer several questions about the deportation flights by Wednesday at noon, or explain why not.
The Court has now spent more time trying to ferret out information about the Government's flight schedules and relations with foreign countries than it did in investigating the facts before certifying the class action in this case.
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