US Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks to the Berkeley County GOP in Charleston, South Carolina, on Friday, November 7, 2025. Alex Brandon/Reuters

The Justice Department said in a new court filing Tuesday that Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem made the decision to continue with deportation flights carrying migrants to a mega-prison in El Salvador, despite a federal judge’s order to turn the planes around.

DOJ acknowledged in the filing that it was Noem who made the call in March to keep the planes headed to CECOT prison — after US District Judge James Boasberg last week resumed his criminal contempt inquiry to find out which Trump administration officials were responsible for flouting his orders.

The high-stakes immigration case involves President Donald Trump’s u

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