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.

Despite a court order to halt deportations, the US has sent over 250 alleged gang members to El Salvador under the Alien Enemies Act.

Tren de Aragua was originally a prison gang that Hector Guerrero Flores turned into a "transnational criminal organisation", according the US state department, which is offering a reward of $5m for information that could lead to his arrest. Guerrero Flores, 41, was in and out of Tocorón for more than a decade.