Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, also asserted that the federal courts “have no jurisdiction” over President Trump’s conduct of foreign affairs or his power to expel foreign enemies.

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.

Not all of the hundreds of Venezuelans deported last weekend by the Trump administration are gang members, according to lawyers challenging the US move that whisked them out of the country.