Chuck Darwin<p>How the White House ignored a judge's order to turn back deportation flights</p><p>The Trump administration says it 💥ignored a Saturday court order to turn around two planeloads of alleged Venezuelan gang members <br>-- because the flights were over international waters and therefore the ruling "didn't apply", two senior officials tell Axios.</p><p>Why it matters: <br>The administration's decision to defy a federal judge's order is exceedingly rare and highly controversial.</p><p>"Court order defied. First of many as I've been warning and start of true constitutional crisis," <br>national security attorney Mark S. Zaid, <br>a Trump critic, wrote on X, <br>-- adding that Trump could ultimately be impeached.</p><p>The White House welcomes that fight. </p><p>"This is headed to the Supreme Court. And we're going to win," <br>a senior White House official told Axios.</p><p>A second administration official said Trump was not defying the judge whose ruling came too late for the planes to change course: </p><p>"Very important that people understand we are not actively defying court orders."</p><p>State of play: <br>Trump's advisers contend U.S. District Judge <a href="https://c.im/tags/James" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>James</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Boasberg" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Boasberg</span></a> overstepped his authority by issuing an order that blocked the president from deporting about 250 alleged Tren de Aragua gang members under the "Alien Enemies Act of 1789".</p><p>The war-time law gives the executive extreme immense power to deport noncitizens without a judicial hearing. </p><p>But it has been little-used, and never in peacetime.</p><p>"It's the showdown that was always going to happen between the two branches of government," <br>a senior White House official said. </p><p>"And it seemed that this was pretty clean. You have [[alleged]] Venezuelan gang members ... These are bad guys, as the president would say."</p><p>How it happened: White House Deputy Chief of Staff <a href="https://c.im/tags/Stephen" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Stephen</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Miller" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Miller</span></a> "orchestrated" the process in the West Wing in tandem with Homeland Security Secretary <a href="https://c.im/tags/Kristy" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Kristy</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Noem" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Noem</span></a>. </p><p>Few outside their teams knew what was happening.</p><p>They didn't actually set out to defy a court order. </p><p>"We wanted them on the ground first, before a judge could get the case, <br>but this is how it worked out," <br>said the official.</p><p>The timeline: <br>Trump signed the executive order invoking the Alien Enemies Act on Friday night, <br>but 💥intentionally did not advertise it. </p><p>On Saturday morning, word of the order leaked, officials said, <br>prompting a mad scramble to get planes in the air.</p><p>At 2:31 p.m. Saturday, an immigration activist who tracks deportation flights, posted on X that <br>"TWO HIGHLY UNUSUAL ICE flights" <br>were departing from Texas to El Salvador, <br>which had agreed to accept Venezuelan gang members deported from the U.S.</p><p>Hours later, <br>during a court hearing filed by the ACLU., <br>Boasberg ordered a halt to the deportations and said any flights should be turned around mid-air.</p><p>"This is something that you need to make sure is complied with immediately," <br>he told the Justice Department, <br>according to the Washington Post.</p><p>At that point, <br>about 6:51 p.m., <br>both flights were off the Yucatan Peninsula, according to flight paths posted on X.</p><p>Inside the White House, officials discussed whether to order the planes to turn around. </p><p>On advice from a team of administration lawyers, <br>the administration pressed ahead.</p><p>"There was a discussion about how far the judge's ruling can go under the circumstances and over international waters and, on advice of counsel, we proceeded with deporting these thugs," <br>the senior official said.</p><p>"They were already outside of US airspace. We believe the order is not applicable," <br>a second senior administration official told Axios.</p><p>Yes, but: <br>The Trump administration was already spoiling for a fight over the Alien Enemies Act <br>— 🔥one of several fronts on which they believe legal challenges to the president's authority will only end up strengthening it when the Supreme Court rules in his favor.</p><p>Between the lines: <br>👉Officially, the Trump White House is not denying it ignored the judge's order, <br>and instead wants to shift the argument to whether it was right to expel alleged members of Tren de Aragua.</p><p>"If the Democrats want to argue in favor of turning a plane full of [[alleged]] rapists, murderers, and gangsters back to the United States, <br>that's a fight we are more than happy to take," <br>White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told Axios when asked about the case.</p><p>It's unclear how many of the roughly 250 Venezuelans were deported under the Alien Enemies Act <br>and how many were kicked out of the U.S. due to other immigration laws.</p><p>It's also not clear whether all of them were actually gang members.</p><p><a href="https://www.axios.com/2025/03/16/trump-white-house-defy-judge-deport-venezuelans" rel="nofollow noopener" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://www.</span><span class="ellipsis">axios.com/2025/03/16/trump-whi</span><span class="invisible">te-house-defy-judge-deport-venezuelans</span></a></p>