Federal Courts and Immigration Policy

Lawyers for the Trump administration asked the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., to cancel or limit two witness examinations next week in Judge James Boasberg’s revived contempt inquiry into March deportation flights, arguing the court is intruding on executive authority and that testimony should be shielded by executive privilege. Boasberg ordered DOJ Deputy AAG Drew Ensign and former DOJ lawyer Erez Reuveni to testify about the decision to deport hundreds of Venezuelans to El Salvador despite a temporary restraining order; the case was remanded to Boasberg after a D.C. Circuit en banc ruling.