That escalated quickly. On Thursday, Federal District Court Judge James Boasberg rejected the Trump administration's Justice Department filing about the illegal alien deportation flights to our ally, El Salvador, in what's being characterized as an "angry order." He is threatening to hold them in contempt.

As we previously wrote, the judge ordered the planes to turn around mid-flight:

As RedState’s Ward Clark reported Saturday, the president invoked the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 against the vicious Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua which has been terrorizing cities across the country—and then the administration sent at least one planeload of members of the “Foreign Terrorist Organization” back to their country of origin.

It didn’t take long for Obama appointed Chief U.S. District Judge James Boasberg to kneecap the effort. Not only did he issue a temporary restraining order preventing the deportation of any Venezuelans, but he also ordered that the plane (or planes; it’s unclear) return the gangsters to the U.S.

The actions against the president began even before he signed the order.

Activist Nation: Judge Orders Plane Carrying Gangsters Kicked Out by Trump to Turn Around

Trump Team Issues 'Blistering' Response in Federal Court Over Tren de Aragua Deportations—Judge Unmoved

The NY Times writes Thursday that Boasberg is implying he might sanction the administration for "possibly having violated an order he issued last weekend" meant to stop the flights:.

In an angrily written order, the judge, James E. Boasberg, told the administration to explain to him by Tuesday why officials had not violated his instructions when they allowed two flights of immigrants to continue on to El Salvador even after he directed the planes to return to the United States.

Judge Boasberg also called out efforts by the Justice Department to repeatedly stonewall his attempts to get information about the timing of the flights.

“The government again evaded its obligations,” he wrote, adding that the Justice Department’s most recent filing about the flights was “woefully insufficient.”

🚨judge in Alien Enemies Act is getting even more ridiculous with demands! No reason for any demands if he wants to order show cause. Let Trump present evidence it believes relevant to question. 1/

— Margot Cleveland (@ProfMJCleveland) March 20, 2025

The judge's move comes after he asked the Trump administration attorneys to file an explanation this week, which it did on Thursday:

The order by Judge Boasberg, the chief judge in Federal District Court in Washington, was the latest turn in his nearly weeklong effort to get the administration to tell him — under seal, if needed — what time the two planes departed the United States, what time they left American airspace and what time they landed.

He originally instructed the Justice Department to provide him with that data by noon on Wednesday. He then extended that deadline by another day after department lawyers asked for more time as they considered whether to invoke a rare doctrine called the state secrets privilege in an effort to get out of turning over the information.

You can read the full order here.

The next deadline to file in the case before the judge is next Tuesday. As this is a developing story, RedState will provide updates as they become available.