Washington — A federal judge said Wednesday that probable cause exists to find the Trump administration in criminal contempt over its defiance of an order to turn around planes carrying Venezuelan migrants that was bound for El Salvador.

U.S. District Judge James Boasberg wrote in a 46-page decision that the government’s actions on March 15 “demonstrate a willful disregard” for his order barring the government from transferring certain migrants into Salvadoran custody under the wartime Alien Enemies Act.

Those actions, he wrote, are “sufficient for the court to conclude that probable cause exists to find the government in criminal contempt. The Court does not reach such conclusion lightly or hastily; indeed, it has given Defendants ample opportunity to rectify or explain their actions. None of their responses has been satisfactory.”

“The Constitution does not tolerate willful disobedience of judicial orders — especially by officials of a coordinate branch who have sworn an oath to uphold it,” Boasberg wrote.

This is a developing story and will be updated