US government lawyers defiantly defended President Donald Trump’s deportation of hundreds of alleged Venezuelan gang members and refused to provide a judge with information he says he needs to determine if the administration ignored his orders to turn planes back to the US.

A U.S. federal judge on Monday pressed the Trump administration to provide details about hundreds of Venezuelans it deported despite a court order barring it from doing so, and gave the government until Tuesday to explain why officials believed they had complied with his order.

A federal judge on Monday questioned whether the Trump administration ignored his orders to turn around planes carrying deportees to El Salvador, a possible violation of the decision he'd issued minutes before.