The White House steadfastly defended its decision to proceed with multiple deportation flights over the weekend, despite an order to pause by a federal judge.

The White House is denying that it violated a judge’s order Saturday to halt the deportations of Venezuelan gang members to El Salvador, which, if it did occur, would take legal showdowns over the administration’s claims of vast presidential power closer to the edge of a constitutional crisis.

A U.S. federal judge 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, escalating the confrontation between the President and the federal judiciary.