A judge who ordered the Trump administration to clarify whether it disregarded a court order by deporting hundreds of Venezuelans the White House claims are violent criminals was targeted by the US Justice Department on Monday, according to Reuters.
Despite a judge temporarily preventing the Trump administration from using a wartime law to carry out the deportations, the administration deported more than 200 Venezuelans to El Salvador over the weekend, claiming they were members of Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan gang implicated in kidnapping, extortion, and contract killings.
Although the White House denied it, a number of legal experts Reuters spoke with claimed the planes directly challenged the independence of the judicial branch.
The goal of President Donald Trump has been to push the limits of executive authority.
