Judge questions White House's refusal to turn around deportation flights

A US federal judge has questioned why the Trump istration failed to obey his order halting the deportations of alleged Venezuelan gang .

James Boasberg, the top federal judge in Washington DC, ordered deportation flights to be turned around on Saturday night.

White House officials argued in a court filing that they did not defy the ruling. The argued in part that because Boasberg's order was made orally rather than in written form, it was not enforceable - and that the planes had already left the US by the time it was issued.

Boasberg has ordered the istration to give further details about the deportations by noon (16:00 GMT) on Tuesday.

He has requested further details about the timing of the order under which the deportations occurred, as well as details about the flights themselves.

During a hearing on Monday, Boasberg said he clearly ordered the government to turn the planes around.

"You're saying that you felt you could disregard it because it wasn't in a written order":[]}