NEW YORK (Audacy/1010 WINS) -- A federal judge has ruled there's probable cause to hold President Donald Trump in criminal contempt of court over his refusal to return people who officials have said were wrongly deported to El Salvador.
In a ruling on Wednesday, Judge James Boasberg said the government’s failure to return those flights to the United States demonstrates “a willful disregard” that is “sufficient for the Court to conclude that probable cause exists to find the Government in criminal contempt.”
The Independent reported that "flights were in the air on March 15 when the administration (was ordered) to turn the planes around following a lawsuit from the American Civil Liberties Union that challenged their clients’ removal.
"The judge has repeatedly pressed officials to explain when government lawyers relayed his verbal and written orders to administration officials and who, if anyone, gave the flights a greenlight despite his orders."
What happens if the Trump administration continues to defy the order? NBC News reported the judge could impose daily fines or even order jail time until the contempt is “purged,” "which would happen when the offending party does what the judge wants." However, the Justice Department would have to enforce it, and it's run by Trump so NBC termed that a 'less viable option.'
Corey Booker is said to be among a number of Democratic lawmakers in Congress who are planning trips to El Salvador, where the Trump administration has been sending deportees. Booker has been particularly vocal about the deportation of immigrants, particularly those with protected status, under the Trump administration.
“The Court does not reach such conclusion lightly or hastily; indeed, it has given Defendants ample opportunity to rectify or explain their actions,” the federal judge wrote in the contempt decision. “None of their responses has been satisfactory.”
Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court said the Trump administration must work to bring back Abrego Garcia, a 29-year-old Salvadoran citizen who has lived in the U.S. for roughly 14 years.
"The Supreme Court was clear: the Trump administration must act to facilitate the return of Kilmer Abrego Garcia to the United States," Booker wrote on X Tuesday. "There is no room for debate — yet Trump is refusing, in defiance of a lawful court order. Every member of Congress should be standing up for the Constitution and demanding that the administration act to return Mr. Abrego Garcia to the U.S. and to his family."
Booker has positioned himself as a leading voice against the Trump administration. Just two weeks ago, the 55-year-old senator set a record for the longest continuous Senate floor speech at 25 hours and 5 minutes as he railed against the administration's policies.
Asked about the case at a press conference Wednesday, Attorney General Pam Bondi said Abrego Garcia "is not coming back to our country" since El Salvador President Nayib Bukele "said he was not sending him back."
"That’s the end of the story," Bondi said. "He’s from El Salvador, he’s in El Salvador and that’s where the president plans on keeping him."
Meeting with Trump Monday, Bukele said he would not return Abrego Garcia, likening it to smuggling “a terrorist into the United States.”
Trump administration officials have said Abrego Garcia was deported to El Salvador last month based on a 2019 accusation from local police in Maryland that he was an MS-13 gang member. Abrego Garcia denied the allegation and was never charged with a crime, his attorneys said.
Later in 2019, a U.S. immigration judge shielded Abrego Garcia from deportation to El Salvador because he likely faced persecution there by local gangs that had terrorized his family. The Trump administration deported him there anyway, later describing the mistake as “an administrative error” but insisting he was in MS-13.
Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court ordered the Trump administration to facilitate his return to the U.S. from the notorious supermax prison where he is being held, rejecting the White House’s claim that it couldn’t retrieve the Salvadoran national after mistakenly deporting him.
On Tuesday, a federal judge said she would order sworn testimony by Trump administration officials to determine if they complied with her orders to facilitate the return of Abrego Garcia.
The written order came a day after White House advisers repeated the claim that they lack the authority to bring back the Salvadoran national from his native country.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.