The Trump administration has deported alleged members of a Venezuelan gang from the U.S. despite a court order forbidding it from doing so, saying in an extraordinary statement that a judge did not have the authority to block its actions.
The deportation operation followed a move by Judge James Boasberg to block President Donald Trump's use of the Alien Enemies Act's wartime powers to rapidly deport more than 200 alleged members of Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan gang that has been linked to kidnapping, extortion and contract killings.
"A single judge in a single city cannot direct the movements of an aircraft ... full of foreign alien terrorists who were physically expelled from U.S. soil," White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement.
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