A federal judge admonished a Justice Department lawyer for failing to obey his oral order last weekend to have the U.S. government halt deportation flights of alleged Venezuelan gang members who ended up in a prison in El Salvador.

U.S. District Judge James Boasberg on Friday criticized a lawyer he directed six days earlier to convey to government officials an order to turn the planes around “immediately.”

“The government is not being cooperative at this point,” Boasberg said at a court hearing in Washington. “I will get to the bottom of whether they violated my order and who ordered this.”

The testy exchange came during arguments over whether Boasberg should extend a temporary block he imposed March 15 on the Trump administration’s use of the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 — a wartime law used only three times in U.S. history — to remove alleged members of the Tren de Aragua gang.

The hearing is certain to deepen Boasberg’s rift with President Donald Trump, who has called him a “radical left” judge. Trump called for the veteran jurist’s impeachment, prompting a rebuke from Chief Justice John Roberts. The case has attracted widespread attention as the Trump administration pushes back at courts that have been halting some of his policies.

Boasberg, the Washington court’s chief judge, grilled Justice Department lawyer Drew Ensign over whether he understood his oral order last weekend, when he said “any plane containing these folks that is going to take off or is in the air needs to be returned to the United States.”

The judge asked if Ensign understood that the order was effective immediately.

“I understood your intent was that you meant that to be effective at that time,” Ensign said. He said that at the March 15 hearing he “didn’t have any information from the government as to the status of those flights” and he was “unable to secure” it.

In court filings this week, the Justice Department argued that Boasberg’s oral order wasn’t binding. A written order, issued less than an hour later, didn’t mention the judge’s directive to return the flights. The Justice Department has asked a federal appeals court to remove Boasberg from the case.

The judge didn’t rule Friday on a request by the American Civil Liberties Union and the Democracy Forward Foundation to extend a temporary halt on using the Alien Enemies Act to deport suspected gang members. The lawyers sued on behalf of five men who feared deportation under the law.

Boasberg had previously clashed with Justice Department lawyers over their disclosures about the flights. In a court filing Thursday, he said the Justice Department had “evaded its obligations” to provide him with specific information he requested. He said one filing was “woefully insufficient.”

The heart of the dispute involves a Trump proclamation, issued just hours before the flights, that accused gang members of an “invasion” or “predatory incursion.” Trump said they conduct irregular warfare that benefits Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, and they are terrorists who use drug trafficking as a weapon against U.S. citizens.

Boasberg, Justice Department lawyers argued in court filings, improperly intruded on the president’s authority to declare an invasion and remove “dangerous aliens who pose grave threats.” They say he has impeded Trump’s ability to conduct foreign affairs and national security.

But lawyers for the Venezuelans argue that the law can only be invoked in an actual or imminent war involving a foreign nation. A criminal gang like TdA doesn’t fit that definition, they say.

‘Dangerous road’

At the hearing, ACLU lawyer Lee Gelernt said the proclamation offers no chance for alleged gang members to dispute the declaration.

“This is a very dangerous road we’re going down,” Gelernt said. “We’re so far afield from what Congress intended.”

The judge seemed to agree. “The policy ramifications of this are incredibly troubling and concerning,” Boasberg said.

White House border czar Tom Homan said this week that 238 Tren de Aragua members were deported. The White House says 137 of them were deported under the act.

During the hearing, the Justice Department issued a press release about an alleged Tren de Aragua member who was arrested on charges that he kidnapped three women in Chicago and shot them all in the head, killing two of them.

Boasberg had also asked the Justice Department to say how many other Venezuelans could be affected by the Trump proclamation. A U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement official, Robert Cerna, said 258 people could be affected, including 172 with pending deportation cases who have been allowed to live in the U.S. while their case is decided, 54 in immigration detention, and 32 in criminal custody.

Gelernt told the judge that some of the people who were deported on the three flights were returned to the U.S. after it was determined that they were sent by mistake.

The case is J.G.G. v. Trump, 25-cv-766, U.S. District Court, District of Columbia (Washington).

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