By MICHAEL KUNZELMAN, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal appeals court refused Wednesday to lift an order barring the Trump administration from deporting Venezuelan migrants to El Salvador under an 18th century wartime law.

A split three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit upheld a March 15 order temporarily prohibiting deportations under the Alien Enemies Act of 1798.

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Invoking the law for the first time since World War II, President Donald Trump’s administration deported hundreds of people under a presidential proclamation calling the Tren de Aragua gang an invading force.

The Justice Department appealed after U.S. District Judge James Boasberg blocked more deportations and ordered planeloads of Venezuelan immigrants to return to the U.S. That did not happen.

Attorneys from the American Civil Liberties Union filed the lawsuit on behalf of five Venezuelan noncitizens who were being held in Texas.

The case has become a flashpoint amid escalating tension between the White House and the federal courts.