U.S. District Judge James Boasberg has ordered a hearing on his effort to determine whether the Trump administration violated his order to pause the deportation flights of alleged Venezuelan criminal migrants.
According to Politico reporter Kyle Cheney, Boasberg set the hearing for 3 p.m. Thursday, ordering the Justice Department to explain how it didn't violate the court's temporary order restraining migrant removals.
Boasberg is trying to determine if the administration ignored his turnaround order this month when at least two flights of Venezuelan nationals were en route.
"I will get to the bottom of whether they violated my order, who ordered this and what the consequences will be," Boasberg said at a hearing for a lawsuit challenging the removals.
Under the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, the Trump administration has deported hundreds of alleged Venezuelan gang members to El Salvador.
According to The Associated Press, flights had already departed when Boasberg issued an oral order from the bench that told the planes to return to the U.S. and temporarily barred further removal action.
The Justice Department has said Boasberg's oral directions don't carry the same weight as his written order and couldn't apply to flights already in the air.
A federal appeals court declined to lift Boasberg's order on Wednesday.
On Sunday, President Donald Trump took to social media to blast "radical left judges" who he says are standing in the way of his deportation orders.
"People are shocked by what is going on with the Court System," Trump posted on his Truth Social platform. "I was elected for many reasons, but a principal one was LAW AND ORDER, a big part of which is QUICKLY removing a vast Criminal Network of individuals, who came into our Country through the Crooked Joe Biden Open Borders Policy!"
He added, "These are dangerous and violent people, who kill, maim and, in many other ways, harm the people of our Country. The Voters want them OUT, and said so in Record Numbers. If it was up to District Judge Boasberg and other Radical Left Judges, nobody would be removed, the President wouldn't be allowed to do his job, and people's lives would be devastated all throughout our Country."
The administration on Friday asked the Supreme Court to intervene and vacate Boasberg's order. The petition was reportedly filed under Trump's name, in his official capacity as president, as well as the administration.