GEOFF BENNETT: Welcome to the "News Hour."

A U.S. federal judge today asked the Trump administration to explain how it failed to act on its court order to halt the deportation of hundreds of Venezuelan migrants, including alleged gang members over the weekend, escalating the confrontation between the president and the federal courts.

Laura Barron-Lopez starts our coverage.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: Their plane touched down in La Paz, El Salvador.

And within moments, they were hustled onto the tarmac and into buses, more than 200 immigrants deported en masse from the U.S. shackled, their hair shaved off, and now locked in one of El Salvador's most infamous mega prisons.

It came after President Donald Trump invoked the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, a sweeping wartime authority allowing the president to detain and deport citizens of a -- quote -- "enemy nation" without a hearing of any sort.

DONALD TRUMP, President of the United States: These were bad people.

That was a bad group of, as I say, hombres.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: Aboard Air Force One last night, Trump defended the move, which he says targeted alleged members of Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan gang linked to kidnapping, extortion, and contract killings.

DONALD TRUMP: That's an invasion.

It invaded our country.

So this isn't -- in that sense, this is war.

In many respects, it's more dangerous than war because, in war, they have uniforms.

You know who you're shooting at.

You know who you're going after.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: The U.S. paying $6 million to El Salvador to detain the migrants, one part of the president's mass deportation plans, playing out in spite of a federal judge's quick weekend order to temporarily block it.

TOM HOMAN, White House Border Czar: President Trump has made a promise to the American people.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: On FOX News today, Trump's border czar, Tom Homan, brushed off the court's authority.

TOM HOMAN: We're not stopping.

I don't care what the judges think.

I don't care what the left thinks.

We're coming.

KAROLINE LEAVITT, White House Press Secretary: This administration acted within the confines of the law.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said the judge has -- quote -- "no jurisdiction."

KAROLINE LEAVITT: We are quite confident in that, and we are wholly confident that we are going to win this case in court.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: In a dramatic court hearing Saturday, federal District Judge James Boasberg verbally ordered the planes carrying the deportees turned around immediately.

But later that night, El Salvador released video of the immigrants being frog-walked off buses and into jail.

The next morning, El Salvador's president, Nayib Bukele, posted a headline about the judge's order, writing: "Oopsie, too late," with a laughing emoji.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio reposted the tweet from El Salvador's president mocking the American judge's order.

Separately, Rubio also wrote: "Thank you for your assistance and friendship, President Bukele."

Today, the Department of Justice refused to answer Judge Boasberg's questions about how many deportation flights took place over the weekend, but insisted that the administration did not violate his written order.

Earlier, the DOJ sought to remove Judge Boasberg from presiding over the case entirely after he refused to cancel today's hearing.

GEOFF BENNETT: And, Laura, as you mentioned, President Trump is claiming authority for these deportations under the Alien Enemies Act.

How does that work in practice?

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: So this act has never been used in peacetime, Geoff.

It's only been used in wartime, the last time being World War II.

And using that authority, Trump has classified Tren de Aragua, that Venezuelan gang, as an invading force that is also tied to Venezuela's government.

That's what the administration is saying.

And it's never been used in this way, according to legal scholars I talk to, and giving Trump -- it's giving the president power to deport any Venezuelan national 14 years or older living in the U.S., whether they are undocumented, whether they are a criminal, or whether they have legal status, if the administration decides that they are tied to this Venezuelan gang.

And the key part there, Geoff, is that it means that the president can carry out these deportations without providing evidence that they're tied to the Venezuelan gang or really without providing any due process like a hearing.

GEOFF BENNETT: And the administration is not providing the names of these deportees, even while saying all of them are criminals.

How does that square with your reporting?

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: So I spoke to Margaret Cargioli.

She's an attorney with the Immigrant Defenders Law Center, and they're representing a Venezuelan national who came to the U.S. seeking asylum.

And this Venezuelan national entered legally through an app that allowed him to declare asylum.

He worked in -- he was working in the arts in El Salvador, is LGBTQ, and he was detained for months by ICE.

And then his attorneys found out that he was potentially deported to El Salvador over the weekend.

And that was confirmed in a hearing today, Margaret Cargioli told me, which was that DHS said that he was deported to El Salvador.

And they believe it was with these other Venezuelan nationals that were sent there.

And they say that it's because he had tattoos that DHS claims were evidence that this Venezuelan national has ties to Tren de Aragua.

Now, his lawyers say that that's not accurate, that these tattoos are benign, Geoff.

And we just -- we have an update from the federal hearing that is challenging the president's use of the Alien Enemies Act.

And in that federal hearing today, the Justice Department insisted that they did not defy the verbal order from Judge Boasberg because they were following the written one.

And the judge called this -- quote -- "a heck of a stretch."

And he questioned the government's ability to just ignore his oral ruling.

Now, the DOJ didn't provide any details on how many flights took off Saturday, when they took off, or when they landed.

And they said that that was -- that they wouldn't do that due to national security concerns.

GEOFF BENNETT: On this matter of deportations, Laura, we're also hearing stories from people who are living in the U.S. on green cards, on valid work permits who have also been subject to deportations.

Bring us up to speed there.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: There are three key examples in the last few days, Geoff, of those who are living and working in the U.S. legally who have either been detained, deported, or pressured to deport.

So, first up, Fabian Schmidt.

He's a green card holder from Germany who had two misdemeanor criminal offenses, but recently renewed his green card with no issues, according to reports.

He lives with his family in New Hampshire.

He was flying back to the U.S. from Luxembourg, and he was -- quote -- "violently interrogated" at Boston Airport, stripped and detained.

That's according to what his mother told local press.

Now, the second person is Ranjani Srinivasan.

She's a Fulbright Scholar at Columbia University, is from India.

Her student visa was revoked over last year's Columbia protests, and the administration accused her of being a -- quote -- "terrorist sympathizer," but they have not provided evidence of that.

She fled to Canada last week, and DHS Secretary Noem cheered it as self-deportation.

Then, third, there's Dr. Rasha Alawieh.

She's a kidney transplant doctor at Brown University, an H-1B visa holder from Lebanon, and she was deported last week when returning from visiting family.

Now, prosecutors allege that she had -- quote - - "sympathetic" photos of Hezbollah leaders.

And I spoke to Dr. George Bayliss, who works with Dr. Alawieh in the kidney transplant department.

And he said that her deportation has disrupted the clinic, and he fears what this could mean for other immigrant doctors, as well as that pipeline of immigrant doctors who come to train in the U.S. GEOFF BENNETT: So what does this all mean for this confrontation, some would say crisis, that we're seeing now as it relates to President Trump and the judiciary?

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: So, when we zoom out, Geoff, I spoke to Kim Wehle.

She's a constitutional scholar with the University of Baltimore.

And she already believed that the country was in a constitutional crisis, but that Trump's actions this weekend make it worse.

KIMBERLY WEHLE, University of Baltimore School of Law: I think we're in uncharted waters, because presidents up until now did not take this kind of open defiance stance against the rule of law.

I don't think there is a way, if the president is intent on ignoring court orders for the judicial branch to do anything about it.

It really would require the United States Congress to step in with impeachment.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: So the legal experts that I spoke to, whether it's Wehle or immigration experts, agree that gang members who have been convicted should certainly be deported, but that due process is key here.

So whether it's across the Alien Enemies Act deportations or these deportations and detentions of legal immigrants, Wehle and immigration legal experts that I spoke to say that the Trump administration is trying to avoid due process for undocumented people, as well as those legally here.

And Wehle said that, without that right, that makes the Trump administration both the judge and the jury.

GEOFF BENNETT: A lot of important reporting on yet another busy day.

Laura Barron-Lopez, our thanks to you, as always.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: Thank you.