Angry Federal Judge Calls Trump's Action On Migrant Flights 'Frightening'

Trump is locked in a battle with Judge James Boasberg after he temporarily blocked the administration from deporting migrants under an 18th-century law.

Justice Department lawyers once again faced an angry federal judge on Friday as they sought to defend President Donald Trump’s decision to invoke the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 and usher migrants out of the country without a court hearing.

U.S. District Judge James Boasberg vowed to determine whether or not the Trump administration knowingly violated his Saturday order to return hundreds of Venezuelan migrants that were, at the time, being flown to an El Salvadoran prison, where they presently remain.

Earlier this week, Trump prompted a rare rebuke from Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts when he called for Boasberg to be impeached.

At the hearing, Boasberg slammed the government’s language in some of its recent court filings as “intemperate and disrespectful,” adding that he could not recall ever encountering such a tone from U.S. government lawyers. One such filing accused the judge of “continuing to beat a dead horse” with his requests for more information from the Justice Department, which only responded in part, alleging that the judge’s orders were “immaterial.”

“I will get to the bottom of whether they violated my order, who ordered this and what the consequences will be,” Boasberg said during an approximately 90-minute hearing.