A federal judge pressed the Justice Department on President Donald Trump’s suggestion that he could secure the return of migrants deported to a Salvadoran super prison, during a Wednesday evening hearing where the judge approved more fact-finding into whether the US has custody over the migrants it sent to the prison.
US District Judge James Boasberg is considering a dispute stemming from Trump’s invocation of the Alien Enemies Act, but he brought up the case of Kilmar Abrego Garcia – who was wrongly deported to El Salvador under a different immigration authority and whose case is in front of a different judge – as he weighs a request from the migrants before him that they be returned to the US so they can have the opportunity to challenge Trump’s use of the sweeping wartime authority against them.
“Didn’t the president say just last week that he could secure the return of Abrego Garcia just by picking up the phone and asking El Slavador to release him – so is the president telling the truth?” Boasberg asked an attorney for the Justice Department.
DOJ attorney Abhishek Kambli did not answer the question directly, prompting frustration from Boasberg. He instead claimed that Trump’s comments spoke to “the president’s belief of the influence he has.”
The belief doesn’t negate the idea that El Salvador ultimately has control, Kambli argued.
Before Boasberg decides whether the migrants in his case should be returned, he first must decide if the US even has custody of them now that they’re in the Salvadoran prison.
“I think plaintiffs may well have sufficiently made out a case for constructive custody,” he said at one point during the hearing Wednesday afternoon but added that he wanted more information to help him make a decision on the question.
Boasberg is first requesting that the Trump administration put forward any declarations or documents by Friday that would back up its claims that the US government does not have custody of the migrants. Lawyers for the migrants will then be able to request any additional discovery – though the judge said he would only allow for a very “cabined” inquiry – that would help him make his decision.
He said he would issue an order on Thursday that will give more detail about how the process will move forward.
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