Over the weekend an activist judge said that two deportation flights carrying illegal alien gang members had to return to the U.S., but the flights landed at their intended destination anyway.
The media spin on this was that the Trump White House “ignored a court order” and “refused to comply” with a judge’s ruling:
EXCLUSIVE: The White House says it ignored a court order to turn around two planeloads of alleged Venezuelan gang members because the flights were over international waters and therefore the ruling didn’t apply, two senior officials tell @MarcACaputo. https://t.co/8WfTjeXlNH
— Axios (@axios) March 16, 2025
Hundreds of alleged Venezuelan gang members are waking up in prison in El Salvador after the Trump administration rapidly deported them, ignoring a federal judge’s directive. @marykbruce reports. pic.twitter.com/hegqUvgyUu
— Good Morning America (@GMA) March 17, 2025
Trump press secretary Karoline Leavitt had this to say in response:
The Administration did not ‘refuse to comply’ with a court order. The order, which had no lawful basis, was issued after terrorist TdA aliens had already been removed from U.S. territory. The written order and the Administration’s actions do not conflict. Moreover, as the Supreme… https://t.co/DnjUsuWTLH
— Karoline Leavitt (@PressSec) March 17, 2025
The full post from Leavitt:
The Administration did not ‘refuse to comply’ with a court order. The order, which had no lawful basis, was issued after terrorist TdA aliens had already been removed from U.S. territory. The written order and the Administration’s actions do not conflict. Moreover, as the Supreme Court has repeatedly made clear — 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. A single judge in a single city cannot direct the movements of an aircraft carrying foreign alien terrorists who were physically expelled from U.S. soil.
It looks like Axios made a slight pivot in how this story was framed:
Axios lied, then quietly changed their fake headline.
This should serve as an important reminder that “White House officials”—assuming Axios didn’t just invent them—should never talk to fake news outlets. Ever. pic.twitter.com/XRaoGBXOkh
— Hans Mahncke (@HansMahncke) March 17, 2025
Shocker.
If Joe can fly the criminals in, we can fly the criminals out.
— Gunther Eagleman™ (@GuntherEagleman) March 17, 2025
Yeah, where were these judges when Biden was opening the floodgates to illegals?