AMNA NAWAZ: Welcome to the "News Hour."

In a D.C. courtroom today: A federal judge questioned the legality of the Trump administration's authority to deport hundreds of migrants without due process and refusal to answer his questions.

White House correspondent Laura Barron-Lopez has been covering the near daily developments in this case.

She joins me now.

So, Laura, this hearing today was about whether the president's use of this wartime alien enemies power is legal.

What did the judge in this case, Judge Boasberg, have to say?

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: Judge Boasberg seemed skeptical, Amna.

So he appeared to be questioning the use of this wartime order, saying that he believed that it had big policy ramifications that were -- quote -- "extraordinarily troublesome," potentially problematic and concerning.

He also said that he believed that the use of this Alien Enemies Act was a long way from the heartland of the law's intention.

And he appeared as though he was heading towards extending his temporary block on deportations under the Alien Enemies Act.

That doesn't mean that the president can't deport migrants under other immigration laws.

AMNA NAWAZ: Now, the hearing was not about whether the Trump administration had violated his previous order to turn around deportation flights, but that issue did come up quite a bit.

How did that play out?

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: It did come up, especially right at the beginning.

Judge Boasberg said that he had a lot of questions for the government.

He asked the Justice Department lawyer if he had told the Trump administration, if he had told the top of the DOJ, as well as the president and others, he said, did you make clear that my order said that planes needed to be turned around in whatever fashion was possible?

And the Justice Department lawyer said that he understood that Judge Boasberg's order, verbal order, he understood it to be binding, but didn't seem to have any justification or explanation for why in public the administration has said that they don't consider the verbal -- that they don't consider the verbal order binding, because that's kind of contradicting with the public statements.

And he also, Judge Boasberg questioned, if they were so confident in their use of the Alien Enemies Act, why did it appear as though the president signed this executive order in the dead of night and then appeared to be rushing migrants on planes over to El Salvador?

AMNA NAWAZ: So the president's been using this act to deport largely Venezuelan nationals to this mega-prison in El Salvador, claiming they're members of this gang Tren de Aragua.

You have been reporting that some of these Venezuelan nationals, though, do not seem to be members of this gang at all.

Has the government provided evidence of that gang membership?

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: The short answer is no.

We have asked DHS repeatedly, others have asked the White House repeatedly whether or not they will provide a list of the migrants, of all the migrants available.

CBS did obtain a list, but the -- Homeland Security has not provided one to us at all, Amna, of who these migrants are.

And in court today, the ACLU's lead attorney, Lee Gelernt, actually provided some new information, saying that pretty soon they may file some sworn declarations showing that at least a number of the migrants that were sent to El Salvador had to be returned, because they were women or because they were not El Salvadoran or they were not Venezuelan.

And he expects to file some of those sworn declarations in the coming days.

Now, President Trump was asked about the fact that multiple examples are emerging that some of these migrants appear to have no ties to Tren de Aragua whatsoever.

And here's what he had to say.

DONALD TRUMP, President of the United States: I was told that they went through a very strong vetting process, and that that will also be continuing in El Salvador.

And if there's anything like that, we would certainly want to find out.

But these were a bad group.

This was a bad group.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: And multiple lawyers and family members have made clear that they have not been able to reach some of their loved ones who were deported, the ones that they believe are not tied to Tren de Aragua at all.

And on this matter of them being sent to this mega-prison, Amna, the president floated today that he is thinking that potentially they may send some American citizens to this El Salvadoran mega-prison if they are found to be convicted of attacks on Tesla.

AMNA NAWAZ: Now, this is all, of course, happening as President Trump and Elon Musk are targeting judges.

They're labeling them as radical.

Did Judge Boasberg specifically respond to any of that today?

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: Judge Boasberg did not respond to President Trump's attacks directly, but he did take issue with the way the Justice Department has talked about him in their filings, specifically saying that he found their language disrespectful, intemperate.

And President Trump has posted repeatedly over the last 24 hours attacking Boasberg and the judiciary, saying that Judge Boasberg is trying to usurp his power.

So those attacks are still ongoing, Amna, from President Trump, as well as from allies like Elon Musk.

AMNA NAWAZ: A fast-moving story.

We know you will stay on top of it.

Laura Barron-Lopez, thank you so much.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: Thank you.