Deportation flights

Attorney General Bondi defends Trump administration handling of deportation flights

From CNN's Betsy Klein

Attorney General Pamela Bondi defended the Trump administration’s handling of the deportations of alleged gang members to El Salvador using a rarely used wartime law, saying the government did not defy a court order when it refused to turn two deportation flights around last month.

“I don’t think anyone defied an order by a judge. That’s pending in court right now. I think our attorneys have argued in court. I think there were arguments yesterday. We’re awaiting a ruling. I anticipate this will go to the Supreme Court, be ruled in our favor. I don’t believe anyone defied a court order,” Bondi told CNN during a news conference Friday.

Bondi continued, “Testimony came out in court that those planes not only had taken off but were outside of American airspace. Moreover, they were illegal aliens from El Salvador. … They were some of the worst of the worst to qualify under the Alien Enemies Act, and we should be concerned about the victims of these crimes here in our states more than these defendants.”

More context: Her comments come one day after a contentious hearing in which US District Judge Boasberg said that he is looking at whether “probable cause” exists to hold Trump administration officials in contempt for violating his orders halting the use of the Alien Enemies Act to deport alleged Venezuelan gang members.

Boasberg ordered in March that the government turn the planes around immediately pending a legal challenge to Trump’s use of the sweeping wartime authority. At the start of Thursday’s hearing, Boasburg told a Justice Department attorney there was a “fair likelihood” that the government didn’t comply with his orders but that he was open to be persuaded otherwise.