President Donald Trump’s administration made a calculated decision to ignore a judge’s directive to turn around two flights containing hundreds of alleged Venezuelan gang members, sources familiar with the matter told ABC News.

The verbal order from the chief judge of the Washington, D.C., District Court, James Boasberg, explicitly told the government to turn around any aircraft that had already departed the country if it was still in the air.

Salvadoran police officers escort alleged members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua recently deported by the U.S. government to be imprisoned in the Terrorism Confinement Center prison, in San Luis Talpa, El Salvador, obtained March 16, 2025.

Secretaria de Prensa de la Presidencia via Reuters

“You shall inform your clients of this immediately any plane containing these folks that is going to take off or is in the air needs to be returned to the United States,” Boasberg said during a hearing on Saturday. “However that’s accomplished, turning around the plane, or not embarking anyone on the plane. … This is something that you need to make sure is complied with immediately.”

Finding the deportations would cause irreparable harm, Boasberg barred the Trump administration from deporting “all non-citizens who are subject to the AEA proclamation” for at least 14 days, imposing a temporary restraining order or TRO.

During that time, while the lawsuit makes its way through the courts, Immigration and Customs Enforcement is meant to keep the noncitizens in its custody.

However, top lawyers and officials in the administration made the determination that since the flights were over international waters, Boasberg’s order did not apply.

The administration said that the planes needed to land because of “operational” and “national security” reasons, sources told ABC News.

It was during the hearing that the two planes took off.

Sources said that the administration wanted to get these planes in the air and over international waters prior to any ruling from the judge.

However, Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt claimed on Sunday evening that the administration “did not ‘refuse to comply’ with a court order.”

She said the order was issued after the alleged gang members “had already been removed from U.S. territory,” arguing that “the written order and the administration’s actions do not conflict.”

“Federal courts generally have no jurisdiction over the President’s conduct of foreign affairs, his authorities under the Alien Enemies Act, and his core Article II powers to remove foreign alien terrorists from U.S. soil and repel a declared invasion,” Leavitt said in a statement.

Also on Sunday, the Trump administration asked the D.C. Circuit Court for a stay of Boasberg’s ruling.

Administration officials contend that Boasberg lacked jurisdiction to enter the TRO, which the administration describes in a filing to the appellate court as “unprecedented.”

“This Court should halt this massive, unauthorized imposition on the Executive’s authority to remove people that Defendants had determined to be members of TdA, a group the President and the Secretary of State have found to be a threat to national security. This Court should halt this unprecedented intrusion upon the Executive’s authority to remove dangerous aliens who pose grave threats to the American people,” wrote a Justice Department attorney in an emergency motion for a stay, referring to the passengers aboard the flight, whom the administration alleges are members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua.

Trump announced on Saturday that he had signed a proclamation declaring that the Tren de Aragua gang was “conducting irregular warfare” against the U.S. and therefore would deport its members under the Alien Enemies Act of 1798.

Alleged members of the Venezuelan criminal organization Tren de Aragua who were deported by the U.S. government, are detained at the Terrorism Confinement Center in Tecoluca, El Salvador in a photo obtained Mar. 16, 2025.

Secretaria de Prensa de la Presidencia via AFP via Getty Images

The stay argued that Trump’s actions in invoking the AEA “are not subject to judicial review” and that there was “no lawful basis” for the court to enjoin the implementation of the president’s proclamation.

“If this TRO allowed to stand,” the DOJ wrote in the filing, “district courts would have license to enjoin virtually any urgent national-security action upon bare receipt of a complaint.”

The D.C. Circuit Court ordered a response to be filed by Tuesday at 5 p.m. by the attorneys representing the plaintiffs in the underlying case.