The scene at Dulles last Saturday night. (Photo by Alex Edelman)

Lawyers and lawmakers have been saying that Customs and Border Protection officers at Dulles International Airport are violating a federal court order, and now the commonwealth of Virginia wants to put the onus on border officials to prove they’re not in contempt.

The motion, first flagged by Daily Beast reporter Betsy Woodruff, was filed Wednesday night by Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring. Virginia is suing the Trump administration over an executive order signed last Friday that temporarily bans citizens and refugees from seven majority-Muslim countries from entering the country.

On Saturday, a Virginia federal judge ordered that lawyers gain access to legal permanent residents at the airport’s secondary inspection area, following a lawsuit filed by the The Legal Aid Justice Center and Mayer Brown on behalf of the Aziz brothers, two Yemeni green card holders denied entry to the U.S., and 60 other John Does.

Judge Leonie Brinkema’s temporary restraining order on Saturday night grants lawyers access to legal permanent residents who are at the airport’s secondary inspection area. (Other federal courts issued more wide-ranging stays that evening and in the days to follow.)

The order came too late for the Aziz brothers, who were already on a plane headed back to Ethiopia after they were coerced by border officials at Dulles into signing away, the court filing says. After being stranded in the airport for days, they are currently in Djibouti. The lawsuit alleges that as many as 60 more people were also bullied into giving up their green cards and visas.

While CBP claims that it is not detaining any legal permanent residents, the agency does not define holding people in secondary as detainment. Lawyers disagree.

“We think that’s inaccurate,” says Paul Hughes, a partner at Mayer Brown. “These individuals were detained because they were not free to go.” But without proof that people are back there, which lawyers can’t get without being granted access, they cannot file for contempt. Instead, they’ve been cobbling together information from family members expecting arrivals at the airport.

Lawmakers who attempted to speak with CBP officials at Dulles were rebuffed through intermediaries.

“When you are not willing to answer questions, I can only conclude that you’re violating law and in contempt of court,” Congressman Gerry Connolly (D-VA) told DCist about CBP. “I think it shows a special arrogance that somehow they think they’re above the law.”

Department of Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly told media this week that no one from CBP knowingly or intentionally violated any court orders.

Virginia joined Aziz v Trump on Tuesday. AG Herring cites on-the-scene reporting at Dulles, including DCist’s, to make the case that CBP needs to show why it “should not be held in contempt of this Court’s temporary restraining order.”

Herring formally requested information about the implementation of the travel ban at Dulles earlier this week, and has not heard back.

Under this new motion, Herring wants CBP to comply by February 7. The parties to the lawsuit are all slated to meet in court on February 10 for a status hearing, and the Department of Justice indicated yesterday that it will be there to represent the Department of Homeland Security.

2017 02 01 Virginia’s Motion for a Rule to Show Cause by Rachel Kurzius on Scribd