White House blasts judge for attempting to halt deportation flights to El Salvador: ‘No lawful basis’

The White House criticized a federal judge’s attempt to halt the Trump administration’s recent deportation flights, a move that was deemed “too late” by the Central American leader who accepted the deportations over the weekend.

On Friday, President Donald Trump invoked the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, which allows deportation of natives and citizens of an enemy nation without a hearing. The act had only been successfully invoked three times in U.S. history: during the War of 1812, World War I and World War II.

U.S. District Judge James Boasberg recently ordered an immediate stop to the deportations in order to determine whether Trump’s invocation of the 1798 act was legal – but a Trump administration official told Fox News that the planes carrying the migrants had already left U.S. airspace when the judge issued his order.

In a statement to Fox News on Sunday, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said that the Trump administration “did not ‘refuse to comply’ with a court order.”

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“The order, which had no lawful basis, was issued after terrorist [Tren de Aragua] aliens had already been removed from U.S. territory,” Leavitt said. “The written order and the Administration’s actions do not conflict.”

“Moreover, as the Supreme Court has repeatedly made clear – federal courts generally have no jurisdiction over the President’s conduct of foreign affairs, his authorities under the Alien Enemies Act, and his core Article II powers to remove foreign alien terrorists from U.S. soil and repel a declared invasion,” Leavitt added. “A single judge in a single city cannot direct the movements of an aircraft carrier full of foreign alien terrorists who were physically expelled from U.S. soil.”

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On Sunday, El Salvador President Nayib Bukele responded to Boasberg’s order by joking, “Oopsie… too late,” in an X post. He also shared footage of heavily-armed Salvadorean authorities escorting the alleged gang members off the planes, shaving their heads and rounding them up in their prison cells.

A total of 261 illegal aliens were deported from the U.S. to El Salvador yesterday – 137 of which were through the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, 101 others were Venezuelans removed via Title 8 and another 21 were Salvadoran MS-13 gang members. Two others were MS-13 ringleaders and “special cases” for El Salvador.

A senior Trump administration official confirmed the numbers to Fox News on Sunday, explaining that the migrants’ alleged crimes included kidnapping, sexual abuse of a child, aggravated assault, prostitution, robbery and aggravated assault of a police officer.

On Sunday night, Vice President JD Vance voiced support for the deportations.

“There were violent criminals and rapists in our country. Democrats fought to keep them here. President Trump deported them,” Vance wrote.

Fox News Digital’s Emma Colton contributed to this report.