The Department of Justice (DOJ) filed paperwork on Friday seeking the ouster of U.S. District Judge James Boasberg before he can hold a contempt hearing aimed at Department of Homeland Security officials who ignored his legal directive on deportations.
At the center of the dispute is Boasberg ordering DHS to halt deportation flights containing immigrants months ago, which was ignored by Donald Trump administration officials. DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, in recent days, said she overruled the judge.
Noem, who was grilled mercilessly by Democrats in a hearing on Thursday that concluded when she walked out on questions by claiming she had to get to a meeting that had already been cancelled, is at the center of next week’s court hearing.
According to a report from The Hill, Attorney Pam Bondi’s DOJ is asserting that there is a “strong appearance that the district judge is engaged in a pattern of retaliation and harassment, and has developed too strong a bias to preside over this matter impartially.”
The filing contends, “This long-running saga never should have begun; should not have continued at all after this Court’s last intervention; and certainly should not be allowed to escalate into the unseemly and unnecessary interbranch conflict that it now imminently portends.”
Boasberg is expected to hear testimony from former DOJ employee Erez Reuveni, who turned whistleblower about the refusal to halt flights that took more than 100 Venezuelans to a high-security prison in El Salvador, where Noem notoriously had her photo taken in front of prisoners at a later date.
According to the Hill, “The testimony will inform Boasberg as he considers referring Trump administration officials for criminal contempt after finding his March order to turn around deportation flights being carried out under the AEA was violated.”
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