A Court Showdown on Deportations

A federal judge in Washington pressed the Trump administration at a hearing this afternoon to explain why the U.S.deported to El Salvador more than 200 migrants with little or no due process.Over the weekend, the same judge had issued an order barring the expulsions, but the Trump administration went through with them anyway.

At today’s hearing, the judge said he was trying to establish whether the government had defied his order.He made no ruling, but he told the Trump administration to return to his court on Friday to argue over the merits.A Justice Department lawyer insisted at the hearing that the Trump administration did not violate the order.

He also repeatedly refused to answer the judge’s questions, citing “national security concerns.”The administration had previously argued that the planes carrying the deportees, including suspected Venezuelan gang members, had already left U.S.soil by the time the judge ordered them to turn around on Saturday.

The judge appeared skeptical of that reasoning.The White House also argued that the judge did not have the authority to stop the deportations, saying that the president had broad powers to quickly expel immigrants under an 18th-century law meant for wartime.The legal battle was the latest, and perhaps most serious, flashpoint yet between the administration and the federal courts, which have sought to curb many of the president’s executive actions.

President Trump’s border czar, Tom Homan, indicated today that the president planned to continue such deportations despite the court’s order — an action that could thrust the country into a constitutional crisis.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Wan...