A federal judge could hold Donald Trump’s administration in criminal contempt of court after officials defied a court order blocking the removal of Asian immigrants to war-torn South Sudan.
District Judge Brian Murphy also warned lawyers for the Department of Justice that Homeland Security officials could be hauled to court to determine if they were “lying” about mistakenly deporting a Guatemalan immigrant and rape survivor who was sent to Mexico despite fears that he would face sexual violence there.
On Tuesday, two immigrants from Myanmar and Vietnam held in federal custody were deported to the African nation, which the State Department reports is plagued by slavery, kidnapping, sexual abuse, torture and extrajudicial killings. They are still sitting on a charter jet in Djibouti under Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody.
Murphy had previously issued a court order that blocks the government from so-called “third-country removals” to countries that are not the immigrants’ home countries, and has reprimanded officials for threatening to deport a group of Asian nationals to Libya.
Whether officials could face “criminal obstruction” charges after defying his order a second time will be “left for another day,” Murphy said.
“The department’s actions in this case are unquestionably violative of this court’s order,” he said.
“Based on what I have learned, I don’t see how anybody would say these individuals had a meaningful chance to object” to their removal, according to the judge.
Lawyers for the Department of Justice chalked up their removal to a “misunderstanding” of his court order.
The men — who were convicted of murder and sexual assault charges — remain in ICE custody after landing in South Sudan, according to Justice Department lawyer Elianis Perez. There are “serious operational and safety concerns” over keeping them in custody, she said.
While Wednesday’s hearing was still underway, the White House put out a press release calling Murphy, who was appointed by Joe Biden, a “far-left activist judge” who is trying to “dictate the foreign policy of the United States” and “protect the violent criminal illegal immigrants.”
“No country on earth wanted to accept them because their crimes are so uniquely monstrous and barbaric,” Homeland Security assistant secretary Tricia McLaughlin said.
The administration “found a nation that was willing to accept custody of these vicious illegal aliens,” she added.
Murphy told lawyers for the Justice Department that “everyone” who was aware of his court order blocking third-country removals could be held in contempt, “from the lowest level person all the way up.”
He wants to know who exactly knew about his order, and the chain of command for communicating it.
Murphy also hounded government lawyers over the case of a gay Guatemalan immigrant involved in the same case. That immigrant, named in court documents as O.C.G., sued the Trump administration for deporting him to Mexico despite his fear of persecution and sexual violence there.
Immigration officials initially claimed that he had agreed to be sent there, but the administration later admitted in court documents that their claim was based on erroneous information. An immigration official wrote in a sworn statement that “ICE was unable to identify an officer or officers” who had even asked the man about his credible fear.
“How was this mistake made?” Murphy asked on Wednesday.
“This is a really big deal,” he said. “It is a big deal to lie to a court under oath. It is an extraordinarily big deal to do so when there are matters of national importance at stake. I take this extremely seriously.”
He suggested his court could hold hearings and have DHS officials testify under oath.
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