The Trump administration deported hundreds of Venezuelan migrants to El Salvador, despite a judge’s order that the planes reverse course and return to the U.S.
It’s unclear when exactly the planes landed. Legal analysts are trying to figure how close the administration is to open defiance of the judiciary.
The White House denied that it had violated the order, saying that the president had broad powers to deport the migrants under an 18th-century law and that the federal courts had no jurisdiction over his power to expel foreign enemies.
In Massachusetts, federal authorities deported a Lebanese professor at Brown University’s medical school, even though she had a valid visa and despite a court order that temporarily blocked her expulsion.
The Trump administration has revived the detention of undocumented immigrant families. The practice fell out of use during the Biden administration.