White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt on Wednesday stepped up attacks on a federal judge that ordered flights carrying alleged Venezuelan gang members be turned around, decrying him as a

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt criticized the judge who blocked President Trump's use of the Alien Enemies Act for deportations and called on the Supreme Court to "reign in activist judges.

The White House defended Trump’s use of the Alien Enemies Act to deport gang members, arguing courts lack jurisdiction, even though a judge blocked the action.

A federal judge in Washington, D.C., held a hearing late Monday on the Trump administration's use of the 18th-century Alien Enemies Act. Despite being blocked by the courts, the White House used the act to deport alleged Venezuelan gang members to El Salvador,

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.