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

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.”