Virginia asks federal judge to force Trump to prove he's not in contempt of court order

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The temporary restraining order issued Saturday night by U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema of the Eastern District of Virginia required Customs and Border Protection to allow attorneys access to legal permanent residents that CBP had detained at Dulles International Airport as a result of Trump’s executive order blocking people from seven Muslim-majority nations from traveling to the U.S. Saturday’s court order also forbade CBP from deporting any of the legal permanent residents ― also known as green-card holders ― detained at Dulles for seven days...

But as The Huffington Post reported this weekend, CBP did not comply with the court’s order. The border agency never let attorneys near the people it was detaining. And when Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.) and at least four other members of Congress tried to get CBP to comply at various points over the weekend, CBP defied them.

In addition to Trump and CBP, the Department of Homeland Security, DHS chief John Kelly, acting CBP Commissioner Kevin K. McAleenan, Dulles CBP head Wayne Biondi and eight unnamed CBP agents are defendants in the lawsuit. Their “conduct and refusal to account for their actions last weekend suggests disobedience” to the court’s order, Virginia charged in its brief.

The case originated on Friday, when Virginia civil rights attorneys sued on behalf of green card holders who were detained at Dulles soon after Trump’s executive order was signed. Brinkema issued her temporary restraining order Saturday. Virginia intervened in the case on Tuesday, arguing that CBP and the other defendants may have violated the rights of legal state residents by deporting them and forcing them to sign papers giving up their rights to live in the country, and it filed the contempt motion late Wednesday. A hearing on the contempt issue, which could prove to be a significant showdown between a Democratic-controlled state and the Republican-led federal government, is scheduled for Friday morning...

In an affidavit in support of the contempt motion before Judge Brinkema, Beyer described the chaos that he and his congressional colleagues witnessed when he arrived at Dulles. Beyer said he met with “anxious, grief-stricken” families who were confused by the actions of customs officials. Alarmed, Beyer said, he attempted to speak to CBP staff on site but was denied access to customs officials by Dulles police who told Beyer that they “were under orders not to allow anyone to make contact with CBP.” Beyer said he then asked the deputy police chief to request that customs officials meet with him and his colleagues to get assurances that CBP would comply with the temporary restraining order issued by federal court. CBP did not respond to their request, he said.

Beyer said that CBP’s continued non-compliance with the court’s order and the turning away of members of Congress amounted to “a constitutional crisis.”

read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/virginia-trump-contempt_us_5892bb6ae4b070cf8b80b621