White House denies it violated judge's order by deporting Venezuelans

The White House has denied allegations that it engaged in a "blatant violation" of a judge's order by deporting about 250 Venezuelan alleged gang members to El Salvador on Saturday, with the US border tsar appearing to contradict the denial yesterday by declaring: "I don't care what the judges think."

- Anna Betts

The US district judge James E Boasberg scheduled a hearing for later yesterday to demand an explanation about why his Saturday order temporarily blocking the deportation flights had apparently been ignored.

The Trump administration had ordered at least some of the deportations using the Alien Enemies Act, a law from 1798 that is meant to be used during wartime. The president quietly invoked the law on Friday and progressive groups almost immediately sued to stop it.

On Saturday, during a court hearing over the case, Boasberg added a verbal order that any flights that had already departed using the act turn around and return to the US. "This is something that you need to make sure is complied with immediately," he told the justice department, according to the Washington Post.

At that point (about 6:51 pm eastern time, according to Axios), both flights were off the Yucatan peninsula, according to flight paths posted on X.

Later on Saturday night, El Salvador's president, Nayib Bukele, confirmed the planes had landed in his country and the alleged gang members were in custody, posting on social media "Oopsie... too late" above a news article about the order. White House officials insisted the migrants were no longer in US territory when the judge issued his order, claiming it therefore did not apply.