Appeals court shuts down criminal contempt probe over deportation flights
U.S. District Judge James Boasberg launched a criminal contempt inquiry after he said officials defied an order to turn around flights of Venezuelan migrants bound for El Salvador.
Updated on: April 14, 2026 / 12:08 PM EDT / CBS News
Washington — A federal appeals court on Tuesday ordered an end to criminal contempt proceedings launched by a lower court judge who said the government defied his order to turn around deportation flights carrying Venezuelan migrants to El Salvador last year.
A divided panel of three judges on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit agreed to grant the Trump administration extraordinary relief to halt the contempt inquiry of Trump administration officials that was ordered by U.S. District Judge James Boasberg.
The ruling from the D.C. Circuit is the latest development in a winding legal battle that arose from President Trump's invocation of the Alien Enemies Act last March to summarily deport more than 200 Venezuelans to the notorious Salvadoran prison known as CECOT. The administration accused the men of belonging to the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua, but a CBS News investigation found that most of the men lacked any apparent criminal record.
Boasberg had issued an oral order during fast-moving legal proceedings more than a year ago that demanded federal immigration officials turn around two planes of Venezuelan migrants that were bound for El Salvador. The judge later said the Trump administration defied the order.
He then found probable cause that the government committed criminal contempt and began efforts to determine who was responsible for ordering the two jets to continue onto El Salvador. The government later said it was then-Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.