The Justice Department (DOJ) once again rebuffed a federal judge’s demands to provide a rationale for why it was declining to provide information about deportation flights of Venezuelan migrants.

The Tuesday filing escalates the battle between the Trump administration and Judge James Boasberg after he convened a hearing to determine whether officials violated his order by continuing deportation flights he ordered to be halted.

After a remarkable exchange Monday evening in which a DOJ attorney said he was “not authorized” to provide more information on the flights, Boasberg ordered the Justice Department to detail what legal authorities it was relying on in declining to provide evidence it complied with his order.

© The Hill