Judge Calls Trump Administration’s Latest Response On Deportation Flights ‘Woefully Insufficient’

A United States Air Force Boeing C-17 used for deportation flights is pictured at Biggs Army Airfield in Fort Bliss, El Paso, Texas on February 13, 2025. Trump has been unhappy with the number of arrests so far and has directed federal immigration officials to meet higher detention quotas, the Washington Post reported. It said he was ordering ICE to raise the arrest numbers from a few hundred a day to at least 1,200 to 1,500, citing people with knowledge of internal briefings. (Photo by Justin Hamel / AFP) (Photo by JUSTIN HAMEL/AFP via Getty Images)

WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge has instructed the Trump administration to explain why its failure to turn around flights carrying deportees to El Salvador did not violate his court order in a growing showdown between the judicial and executive branches. U.S. District Judge Jeb Boasberg demanded answers after flights carrying Venezuelan immigrants alleged by the Trump administration to be gang members landed in El Salvador after the judge temporarily blocked deportations under an 18th century wartime law. Boasberg had directed the administration to return to the U.S. planes that were already in the air when he ordered the halt. The administration has resisted the judge’s request for more details about the flights, calling it an “unnecessary judicial fishing” expedition.