A federal judge blocked the Trump administration from removing any migrants under the Alien Enemies Act late Saturday—but the White House said Sunday that hundreds of alleged gang members had still been sent to El Salvador.

The decision by the administration to openly defy a court order could mark a new escalation of President Trump’s feud with the judiciary and trigger

The Trump administration has deported alleged members of a Venezuelan gang from the U.S. despite a court order forbidding it from doing so, saying in an extraordinary statement that a judge did not have the authority to block its actions.

The White House is denying that it violated a judge’s order Saturday to halt the deportations of Venezuelan gang members to El Salvador, which, if it did occur, would take legal showdowns over the administration’s claims of vast presidential power closer to the edge of a constitutional crisis.

The Trump administration has transferred hundreds of immigrants to El Salvador even as a federal judge issued an order temporarily barring the deportations under an 18th century wartime declaration targeting Venezuelan gang members,