Trump Team Defines 'Obeying Judge' as Doing Whatever They Feel Like
KEY POINTS
- •Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem ordered detainees transferred to El Salvador in March despite Judge James Boasberg’s directive.
- •The DOJ argued the move was lawful, relying on advice from former Trump attorneys Todd Blanche and Emil Bove.
- •Boasberg resumed a contempt inquiry in November after initially finding probable cause the administration showed 'willful disregard.'
- •Deportees were returned to Venezuela this summer but suffered trauma from time spent in El Salvador’s notorious CECOT mega-prison.
In a plot twist worthy of a soap opera with fewer hugs, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem dropped detainees onto El Salvador’s infamous CECOT mega-prison starting in March after a judge, James Boasberg, waved a very ambiguous hand and said 'return them somehow.' Despite two planeloads being airborne when the order came down, Noem's DOJ lawyers insisted this was all 'lawful' and vetted by Todd Blanche and Emil Bove—names that sound like a law office’s knockoff duo—while Boasberg sulked and resumed his contempt inquiry in November. Bonus round: the deportees were later swapped back to Venezuela but are reportedly still haunted by Salvadoran prison trauma. Legal drama meets international prison tour, starring an 18th-century law (the Alien Enemies Act) probably drafted when people still thought deporting was riding a horse.
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Kristi Noem played rapid-fire deportations like a game of hot potato, throwing detainees into El Salvador’s mega-prison because apparently 'turn around the plane' means 'keep flying and good luck.'
When a judge says 'return them somehow' and you hear 'challenge accepted,' you get Salvadoran mega-prisons and DOJ legal kangaroo courts.
The Trump team’s deportation playbook: ignore the judge, blame 18th-century laws, and hope no one reads the fine print or checks CECOT’s Yelp reviews.
Source: Axios | Published: 11/26/2025 | Author: Avery Lotz
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