The Trump administration has transferred hundreds of immigrants to El Salvador even as a federal judge issued an order temporarily barring the deportations under an 18th century wartime declaration targeting Venezuelan gang members,

The deportation of 261 Venezuelans, including suspected members of the gang, was carried out on Saturday. By the time a federal court halted the move, two planes carrying immigrants had already left the country.

Claiming that the Nicolás Maduro regime has launched an invasion of the United States through a dangerous gang, President Donald Trump on Saturday invoked wartime powers contemplated in a centuries-old act to assume the authority to expedite the mass deportation of Venezuelans citizens.