Immigration & Alien Enemies Act Deportations

A divided three‑judge D.C. Circuit panel on April 14, 2026 ordered an end to Chief Judge James Boasberg’s planned criminal‑contempt inquiry into government officials over March 2025 deportation flights that removed more than 130 Venezuelan men to El Salvador under the Alien Enemies Act. The majority, Judges Neomi Rao and Justin Walker, concluded Boasberg’s March 15 temporary restraining order was not “clear and specific” as to transfers into Salvadoran custody and that pursuing contempt would intrude on “high‑level Executive Branch deliberations,” calling the planned probe an “abuse of discretion” and an “unwarranted impairment” of the executive. Judge J. Michelle Childs, the lone dissenter, issued a lengthy opinion warning that stripping the court of contempt power risks turning “the rule of law into an illusion.”