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,

Venezuela's government on Sunday blasted the U.S. implementation of a rarely used wartime law, rapidly blocked by a U.S. judge, to deport over 200 alleged members of Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua to El Salvador.

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.

Hundreds of mostly Venezuelan alleged gang members were deported from the United States to a prison in El Salvador on Sunday, with the Trump administration invoking wartime powers to speed up removals despite a court ruling halting the move.