"This is pretty outrageous”: Judge threatens Sessions with contempt over deportation of mother and daughter

A federal judge threatened to hold Attorney General Jeff Sessions in contempt of court after the Trump administration deported a woman and her daughter during their own court case.

“This is pretty outrageous,” U.S. District Court Judge Emmet G. Sullivan said after he heard about the removal, according to the Washington Post. “That someone seeking justice in U.S. court is spirited away while her attorneys are arguing for justice for her?”

The ruling blocks the Trump administration from deporting multiple women and their children while they fight for their right to stay in the country. But the woman the administration deported, referred to as Carmen in court documents, is the plaintiff in an ACLU lawsuit that challenges an earlier Trump administration decision to stop granting asylum to victims of domestic abuse and gang violence.

The DOJ previously agreed to delay removing Carmen and her daughter until 11:59 p.m. Thursday, so they could make their arguments to a judge, according to the ACLU. But during the hearing, ACLU lawyers heard that the mother and daughter had been taken from their family detention center in Dilley, Texas, and were headed to a deportation flight to Central America.

“I’m not happy about this at all,” Sullivan said, according to the Post. “This is not acceptable.” Sullivan threatened to hold Sessions in contempt and called the deportation order “unacceptable.”

While the larger case remains tied up the courts, the ACLU's victory on Thursday resulted in temporarily blocking the deportation of any of the half-dozen immigrants in the case. Sullivan ordered the Department of Justice to “turn the plane around,” according to the Post.

And that’s just what DHS did.

“We are complying with the court’s order, and upon arrival in El Salvador, the plaintiffs will not disembark and will be promptly returned to the United States,” a DHS official told VICE News.

“In its rush to deport as many immigrants as possible, the Trump administration is putting these women and children in grave danger of being raped, beaten, or killed,” Jennifer Chang Newell, managing attorney with the ACLU’s Immigrants’ Rights Project, said in a press statement. “We are thrilled the stay of removal was issued but sickened that the government deported two of our clients — a mom and her little girl — in the early morning hours. We will not rest until our clients are returned to safety.”

Cover image: Attorney General Jeff Sessions waits to take the stage to deliver remarks on efforts to combat violent crime in America during an appearance at the United States Attorney's Office for the Middle District of Georgia on Thursday, Aug. 9, 2018, in Macon, Ga. (AP Photo/John Amis)