A federal judge on Monday gave US President Donald Trump's administration a Tuesday deadline to provide details about plane loads of Venezuelans it deported despite orders not to do so in a brewing showdown over presidential power.
Trump claimed the deported Venezuelans are members of the prison gang Tren de Aragua, which he designated as a foreign terrorist organisation. The White House on Saturday published a Trump proclamation that invoked the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to declare the gang was conducting irregular warfare against the US.
Later on Saturday, US district judge James Boasberg issued an order blocking the deportations, but the flights continued and 261 people were flown to El Salvador.
A Trump administration lawyer argued the judge's initial oral ruling to block the flights was superseded by a more sparsely written order issued later, and that the government had the legal right to continue with flights once they had left US airspace.
Trump has sought to push the boundaries of executive power, challenging the historic checks and balances between the US branches of government.
During a court hearing on Monday, Boasberg repeatedly pressed justice department attorney Abhishek Kambli to provide details on the timing of the flights that transported the Venezuelans to El Salvador, including whether they took off after his order was issued.
“Why are you showing up today without answers?” Boasberg asked.
The judge was trying to ascertain the exact timeline of events surrounding his rulings on Saturday, including when the flights took off and who was on them.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said 261 people were deported, including 137 who were removed under the Alien Enemies Act and more than 100 others who were removed via standard immigration proceedings. There were also 23 Salvadoran members of the MS-13 gang, she said.