A federal judge ruled Wednesday that there is “probable cause” to hold Trump administration officials in criminal contempt for defying his order to halt deportation flights to El Salvador last month. 

Chief DC US District Judge James Boasberg, a Barack Obama appointee, determined that the White House showed “willful disregard” for his March 15 demand to turn two flights of suspected Venezuelan gang members around and bring them back to American soil.

 “The Court does not reach such conclusion lightly or hastily; indeed, it has given Defendants ample opportunity to rectify or explain their actions,” Boasberg wrote in a blistering 46-page opinion. “The Constitution does not tolerate willful disobedience of judicial orders — especially by officials of a coordinate branch who have sworn an oath to uphold it.”

The judge instructed the administration to either “purge their contempt” by retaking custody of the deported migrants so they might take their cases to US court or turn over the names of executive branch officials who defied him. 

Boasberg’s finding comes nine days after the Supreme Court lifted his order blocking the speedy deportation of suspected members of Tren de Aragua under the 1798 Alien Enemies Act, finding that DC federal court was not the proper venue for the case to be heard.

The high court also ruled that would-be deportees must be given a “reasonable” opportunity to challenge their removal.”It is a foundational legal precept that every judicial order ‘must be obeyed’ — no matter how ‘erroneous’ it ‘may be’ — until a court reverses it,” Boasberg explained his action Wednesday.

On March 15, Boasberg issued a 14-day temporary restraining order against the Trump administration’s use of the 18th-century law. That order was later extended though the end of last week.

Hours after the initial order was issued, two planes finished transferring passengers into the Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT). At least one woman was flown back to the US because El Salvador refused to accept females at the facility.

In court, Trump administration lawyers argued that the planes were out of US airspace by the time Boasberg’s order came down.

“Defendants’ core contention — that in prohibiting class members’ removal, the written Order barred only their physical exit from the United States, not their subsequent transfer into Salvadoran custody — requires ignoring the clear context in which the Order was issued,” Boasberg wrote. 

The judge concluded his order by hinting that he would appoint an outside prosecutor to refer the contempt case to if the Justice Department does not act.

Five migrants flown to El Salvador had initially sued the Trump administration, arguing they were not granted due process to challenge the deportation. Their case was backed by the American Civil Liberties Union.

Trump had bypassed traditional deportation channels by leveraging the Alien and Enemies Act, which gives the US government broad powers to detain foreign nationals in the event of a “declared war” with a “foreign nation or government.”

Boasberg vented in his ruling that the Trump administration was concealing basic information from him, which administration officials argued needed to be kept under wraps due to national security concerns. 

“The Court is simply seeking,” the judge wrote, “to confirm times and numbers: how many passengers the two flights carried, whether they were all deported pursuant to the Proclamation, and when they were transferred out of U.S. custody.”