A federal judge in Washington said today that the Trump administration had shown “willful disregard” for an order he issued last month directing the government to stop flying planes filled with Venezuelan migrants to El Salvador.

The judge, James Boasberg, ruled that there was “probable cause” to find officials in contempt for violating his order. And he said he would begin a contempt investigation unless the White House did what it has failed to do for more than a month now: give the men who were deported a chance to challenge their removal.

Boasberg’s threat came one day after another federal judge announced that she was beginning her own inquiry into whether the White House had violated a Supreme Court ruling. In that case, the administration argued that the courts did not have the power to compel officials to secure the release of a Maryland man who was wrongly deported to El Salvador.

Chris Van Hollen, one of Maryland’s senators, traveled today to El Salvador in hopes of meeting with that man, Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia. He said the Salvadoran vice president had told him that Abrego Garcia remained in custody only because the Trump administration was paying to keep him there.

Credit…Eric Lee/The New York Times

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