President Donald Trump’s March 15 deportation of hundreds of alleged Venezuelan gang members, in possible defiance of a federal judge’s order, deepened a battle over the limits of presidential authority and the courts’ ability to check the chief executive’s power.

President Donald Trump's legal maneuver to invoke a 1798 law to deport alleged Venezuelan gang members has sparked a court showdown.

The White House said it followed the court’s written ruling. The judge verbally instructed planes en route to turn around.