A furious federal judge threatened Thursday to hold Attorney General Jeff Sessions in contempt after learning that a mother and daughter seeking asylum had been deported and were on a plane to El Salvador.

U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan said the government appeared to have “spirited away” the woman and her child.

“Turn that plane around,” the judge ordered the government, while repeatedly saying he was “extremely upset” about the development.

“I’m not happy about this at all,” Sullivan said. “This is not acceptable.”

The woman, identified in court papers as “Carmen,” is a plaintiff in a lawsuit filed this week by the American Civil Liberties Union against Sessions, over his recent decision to stop granting asylum to people who have faced domestic and gang violence.

The woman had fled to the U.S. to get away from an abusive husband.

Sullivan agreed with the ACLU that the immigrants they were representing in a federal lawsuit should not be deported while their cases were pending.

After the hearing, Sullivan issued an emergency order halting the deportation of any of the immigrants as he considered whether he had broader authority in the case. [Read More]

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Source: VOA News: Economy and Finance