dKristi Noem, the DHS Secretary, openly admitted to defying a judge’s order, and on top of that, she also dared the court to do something about the same, in a stunning court filing. It has been a well-known case that went on throughout 2025, which circles around a March incident where D.C. Chief U.S. District Judge James E. Boasberg ordered that a couple of planes were bound for El Salvador, which carried Venezuelan migrants, mostly whom remain in the United States.
However, the order was ignored, with the detainee being handed over to El Salvador’s CECOT mega-prison, which is a facility notorious for human rights abuses. Following that, the men were transferred to Venezuela in a prison swap months later. Though answers to these were also pursued concerning why the order wasn’t followed which Boasberg ordered that the people involved in this give a written testimony highlighting their role in the decision.
DHS Sec. Kristi Noem defies Judge Boasberg’s order, greenlighting deportation flights to El Salvador. A win for executive authority, backed by the Supreme Court’s limits on judicial overreach. Time to prioritize national security over activist rulings! pic.twitter.com/jTqXeuB0Ib
— 𝐃𝐔𝐓𝐂𝐇 (@pr0ud_americans) November 28, 2025
Noem further boasted in the court filing Friday evening that she was responsible for the decision to ignore his ruling. A filing which circles her declaration taunts Boasberg, saying, “Accordingly, if the Court continues to believe its order was sufficiently clear in imposing an obligation to halt the transfer of custody for detainees who had already been removed from the United States, the Court should proceed promptly with a referral.”
Besides, the Justice Department also admitted that Noem made the decision last week. Tiberius Davis, the DOJ attorney, wrote, “After receiving that legal advice, Secretary Noem directed that the AEA [Alien Enemies Act] detainees who had been removed from the United States before the Court’s order could be transferred to the custody of El Salvador.” The DOJ has further argued that Judge Boasberg’s order of halting the deportation of above 100 men was ambiguous, as well as that its decision of shipping the men out was legally consistent.
KARL: Did you know about the judge’s order when you issued your order for the planes to continue? KRISTI NOEM: This is an activist judge. We comply with all federal orders that are lawful and binding. pic.twitter.com/6HnmGsbZWt
— Brown (@Brown_1152) December 1, 2025
Erez Reuveni, a DOJ whistleblower as well as a former DOJ attorney, alleged over the summer that the DOJ always had the intention of ignoring the orders from Judge Boasberg. He also accused Emil Bove, who was the then-principal associate deputy attorney general, of saying the DOJ attorneys “to be prepared to tell courts ‘f— you’ if they ruled against the government,” which is known from a letter from Senator Sheldon Whitehouse to Chief Justice John Roberts.
Besides, Reuveni also accused Bove of telling the lawyers, “the planes need to take off no matter what.” Multiple judges have challenged Trump‘s administration, with Boasberg being among them, and have also endured smears from the president himself, despite having a sterling record and bipartisan approval. With Boasberg ruling that the migrants be kept in the United States, the President stated Boasberg a “Radical Left Lunatic of a Judge, a troublemaker and agitator” as well as asked for his impeachment, prompting a rare rebuke from Justice Roberts.
George W. Bush appointed Boasberg to the D.C. Superior Court in 2002 and then to the U.S. District Court by the President Barack Obama in 2011. The Senate also confirmed him in a 96-0 vote. And the case went further, as the Supreme Court eventually voided Boasberg’s order to halt the migrants’ deportation, stating that he lacked authority in the case. Boasberg is still pursuing the question if the DOJ acted in contempt of court, as Kristi Noem as well as the DOJ defied his order before the ruling of the Supreme Court. “Such disobedience is punishable as contempt, notwithstanding any later-revealed deficiencies,” he wrote.
