U.S. District Judge James Boasberg is using a new tool to press Department of Justice lawyers over their attempts to brush off responsibility for migrants the United States has sent to a Salvadoran prison: the president’s words.
Boasberg held a hearing Wednesday in part to hear arguments over which country technically has custody of the jailed migrants who were denied due process before being rapidly deported to El Salvador on March 15. Boasberg explicitly referenced President Donald Trump’s comments in an ABC interview last week that he “could” have Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia — who federal officials initially acknowledged was improperly deported — returned to the U.S. with a phone call.
“Was the president telling the truth when he said he could pick up the phone and have Mr. Abrego Garcia be released or not?” Boasberg asked a team of DOJ lawyers.