After the Trump administration provided limited information about the decision to deport more than one hundred men under the Alien Enemies Act in March, a federal judge on Monday ordered a top Justice Department lawyer involved in the deportations to testify later this month.
U.S. District Judge James Boasberg ordered Drew Ensign, assistant attorney general of the Civil Division’s Office of Immigration Litigation, to testify during a Dec. 16 hearing.
He also ordered Erez Reuveni, a former Justice Department lawyer who alleged that the Trump administration evaded court orders, to testify on December 15.
In March, the Trump administration invoked the Alien Enemies Law (an 18th century wartime authority used to expel non-citizens with little or no due process) to deport two planeloads of suspected immigrant gang members to the CECOT megaprison in El Salvador, arguing that the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua is a “hybrid criminal state” that is invading the United States.
Boasberg issued a temporary restraining order and ordered the planes to be returned, but Justice Department lawyers said their oral instructions ordering the flight to be returned were flawed and that the deportations proceeded as planned.
Boasberg later sought contempt procedure against the government for deliberately defying its order.
“Therefore, the Court believes it is necessary to hear witness testimony to better understand the basis for the decision to transfer deportees out of United States custody in the context of the March 15, 2025 hearing,” Judge Boasberg wrote in his Monday order. “The events surrounding this decision should shed light on this issue.”
More than 250 suspected gang members arrive in El Salvador by plane, including 238 members of Venezuela’s Tren de Aragua gang and 23 members of the MS-13 gang, who were deported to El Salvador by the United States in San Salvador, El Salvador, on March 16, 2025.
Presidency of El Salvador/Handout/Anadolu via Getty Images
In his ruling, Judge Boasberg noted that it would be “premature” to refer someone for contempt proceedings due to the limited information provided by Trump administration officials about the deportations.
He wrote that DHS Secretary Kristi Noem’s brief affidavit recently filed in the case “did not provide sufficient information for the Court to determine whether her decision was an intentional violation of the Court’s Order.”
Noem said in her affidavit that she decided to move forward with the transfer of detainees after receiving legal advice from Justice Department leaders, including Joseph Mazarra, the acting general counsel of DHS.
“As this statement does not provide sufficient information for the Court to determine whether his decision was an intentional violation of the Court’s order, the Court cannot at this time find probable cause that his actions constitute criminal contempt,” Boasberg wrote. “Therefore, a referral to court action would be premature.”
Mazarra, in his statement on Friday, said he was analyzing Judge Boasberg’s order that sought to block deportations and later provided Noem with legal advice.
“DHS had removed these terrorists from the United States before this Court issued any order (or oral statement regarding their removal),” Mazarra wrote.
A Justice Department representative did not immediately respond to a request for comment from ABC News. The Justice Department has maintained that it does not believe officials deliberately violated Boasberg’s order to return the planes and has accused him of overstepping his judicial authority by pursuing his contempt investigation.
