There are major questions over the legality of President Trump invoking the Alien Enemies Act and the decision not to obey a judge's order to return deportees to the U.S.
It has become a showdown between President Trump and the federal court over his deportation of hundreds of alleged immigrant gang members.
"We removed terrorists. That should be a celebration. We removed terrorists from this country, and I stand by what the President did. We're not stopping, I don't care what the judges think, I don't care what the Left thinks, we're coming," said Border Czar Tom Homan.
The Trump administration flew two planes carrying more than 200 Venezuelan immigrants to El Salvador to be imprisoned, including alleged members of the Tren de Aragua gang arriving over the weekend.
The ACLU sued the administration, and a federal judge ordered that the planes be "returned to the United States."
But the White House says they were already out of U.S. territory.
"We are not saying at this point that the government defied the court order, but we are saying there are serious reasons to potentially think that they did," said ACLU Lawyer Lee Gelernt.
When asked whether his administration complied with the order, President Trump said, "I don't know. You have to speak to the lawyers."
One Trump official contends the courts don't have the authority to block presidential policy when it comes to national defense.
Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller said, "At a fundamental level a district court judge has no authority to direct the national security operations of the executive branch."
Han Von Spakovsky of the Heritage Foundation tells CBN News the Alien Enemies Act empowers the president to order the removal of people deemed a threat.
"So he doesn't have to go to a court to get an arrest or detention warrant. The president himself can issue a warrant for the removal of these aliens. So, it's actually the judge acting outside of the Constitution and the law by trying to override the President's judgment," said Spakovsky.
The White House press secretary claimed there are questions about whether the judge's verbal order carries the same weight as a written one.
The judge called that "one heck of a stretch" and he's demanding the administration give an explanation why his order was not obeyed by noon on Tuesday.
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