US appeals court orders end to contempt proceedings in Trump deportation case

In an apparent win for the United States (U.S.) President Donald Trump, two appellate court judges have ordered the U.S. District Judge James Boasberg to end his contempt inquiry against the administration officials.

A pair of Trump-appointed judges declared Judge Boasberg’s efforts to hold government officials accountable for flouting his orders in a high-stakes immigration case as “abuse of power”.

This comes nearly a year after the chief judge of a federal trial level court ruled that there was probable cause to find the government in criminal contempt. Boasberg’s ruling came after the Trump administration defied his orders to halt the deportation of migrants.

He could not really initiate the inquiry as the government kept appealing his ruling and now he has been asked to terminate the contempt of court proceedings, which never formally began.

Judge Justin Walker and Neomi Rao said the potential end to Boasberg’s investigation was a legal end. The trial level court inquiry was related to the transfer of alleged Tren de Aragua gang members to the high-security prison in El Salvador.

The two appeals court judges described Boasberg’s efforts as a “judicial intrusion into the autonomy of a co-equal department.”