A US judge has said he could hold the Trump administration in contempt of court for "wilful disregard" of an order to halt the departure of deportation flights carrying more than 200 people to El Salvador last month.

The administration had invoked a 227-year-old law meant to protect the US during wartime to carry out the mass deportation.

"The Court does not reach such conclusion lightly or hastily; indeed, it has given Defendants ample opportunity to rectify or explain their actions. None of their responses has been satisfactory," federal judge James Boasberg wrote.

In a statement, the White House said it would contest the decision.

White House Communications Director Steven Cheung said: "We plan to seek immediate appellate relief", referring to a process in which parties can request a higher court review and potentially change a decision made by a lower court.

"The President is 100% committed to ensuring that terrorists and criminal illegal migrants are no longer a threat to Americans and their communities across the country."

Judge Boasberg's decision to begin contempt proceedings escalates a clash between the White House and the judiciary over the president's powers.

The administration could avoid a contempt finding, or "purge" itself of contempt, if they provide an explanation of their actions and come into compliance with the original order issued last month, Boasberg said on Wednesday.

That filing is due by 23 April, he said.

His ruling comes despite the Supreme Court's later finding that Donald Trump could in fact use the 1798 Alien Enemies Act to conduct the deportations to El Salvador.

The Supreme Court's ruling against Boasberg's temporary restraining order "does not excuse the Government's violation", he said.

If the administration does not provide the requested information by the 23 April deadline, Boasberg will then seek to identify the individual people who ignored the order to stop the deportations.

He could then recommend prosecutions for those involved. Federal prosecutions come under the US justice department which ultimately reports to the Trump administration.

The March deportation flights saw more than 200 Venezuelans accused by the White House of being gang members deported to a jail in El Salvador.

During a 15 March hearing, Judge Boasberg imposed a temporary restraining order on the use of the wartime law and a 14-day halt to deportations covered by the proclamation.

After lawyers told him that the planes had already departed, he issued a verbal order for the flights to be turned around to the US.

The White House denied violating the court ruling.

US press secretary Karoline Leavitt said: "The administration did not 'refuse to comply' with a court order.

"The order, which had no lawful basis, was issued after terrorist TdA [Tren de Aragua] aliens had already been removed from US territory."

After two deportation flights continued to El Salvador despite his order that they be turned around, Judge Boasberg convened a hearing to discuss "possible defiance" of his ruling by the Trump administration.

In response, Trump took to TruthSocial to call Boasberg a "troublemaker and agitator" and call for his impeachment.

El Salvador has agreed to take in the deportees in exchange for $6m (£4.6m).

Earlier this week, Trump met with El Salvdador's President, Nayib Bukele, at the White House, and expressed an interest in sending more deportation flights to El Salvador.

Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr has been dealt an unexpected blow in the midterms, with his Senate candidates set to pick up fewer seats than expected, according to early results.

The election was a showdown between Marcos and his Vice-President Sara Duterte, daughter of former president Rodrigo Duterte.

The pair, who represent the country's most powerful families, won the 2022 election together – but their alliance has since collapsed.

Monday's election, which included multiple races from the council to the Congress, was an important test for 67-year-old Marcos, the son of an ousted dictator who rebranded his father's reign to make a comeback in the 2022 election.

'Destined' for leadership

Born in 1957 to Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos, Bongbong was just eight years old when his father became president. He was the second of three children, and the only son. The couple later adopted another girl.

Bongbong's father, a former lawyer, served in the Congress and Senate, while his mother was a singer and former beauty pageant winner. Both would achieve notoriety – as the family amassed enormous wealth under a brutal regime, they became synonymous with excess and corruption.

During his first term between 1965 and 1969, Ferdinand Marcos Sr was fairly popular, and was re-elected by a landslide. But in 1972, a year before his second term was due to end, he declared martial law.

What followed was more than a decade of dictatorship, during which the country's foreign debt grew, prices soared and ordinary Filipinos struggled to make ends meet. It was also a period of repression as opposition figures and critics were jailed, disappeared or killed.

Through it all, Marcos Sr was grooming his son for leadership.

Bongbong's childhood bedroom in llocos Norte, the family's stronghold in the north, which is now a museum, has a portrait of him wearing a golden crown and riding a white stallion.

But the elder Marcos was also worried about whether his son would step up to the role. A diary entry from 1972 read: "Bongbong is our principal worry. He is too carefree and lazy".

Marcos enrolled in Oxford University to study Philosophy, Politics and Economics, but it was later revealed that he did not graduate with a bachelor's degree as he claimed.

Oxford said in 2021 that he was awarded a special diploma in social studies in 1978. That too, local media reports alleged, was the result of lobbying by Philippine diplomats in the UK after Marcos Jr failed his exams.

He returned home and joined politics, becoming the vice-governor and then governor of Ilocos Norte.

But the political career his parents had envisioned for him would be cut short by a revolution in 1986.

An economic crisis had already triggered unrest – but the assassination of a prominent opposition leader brought tens of thousands onto the streets.

A sustained campaign eventually convinced a significant faction of the army to withdraw its support for the Marcos regime, and hastened its downfall.

The family fled to Hawaii with whatever valuables they could bring, but left behind enough proof of the lavish lives they had led.

Protesters who stormed the presidential palace found fanciful oil portraits of the family, a jacuzzi with gold-plated fixtures and the now-infamous 3,000 pairs of designer shoes owned by Imelda Marcos.

The family is accused of plundering an estimated $10bn of public money while in power. By the time Marcos Sr died in exile in 1989, his was a tarnished name.

And yet, some three decades later, his son was able to whitewash that past enough to win the presidential election.

Becoming president

After they returned to the Philippines in the 1990s, Marcos became a provincial governor, congressman and senator, before running – and winning – the presidential race in 2022.

Social media was a big part of this rebranding, winning Marcos new supporters – especially among the younger generation in a country where the median age is around 25.

On Facebook, the Marcos family legacy has been rewritten, with propaganda posts claiming that Marcos Sr's regime was actually a "golden period" for the country.

On TikTok, a martial law anthem from the Marcos Sr era became the soundtrack to a cute challenge for Gen Z users, who would record older family members marching to the beat.

As his popularity grew, Marcos launched his presidential bid with Sara Duterte running for vice-president. She vowed to work with Bongbong to unify the country and make it "rise again".

They called themselves the "uniTeam", and combined the two families' powerful bases: the Dutertes in the south, and the Marcos's in the north.

It paid off. Marcos won with a thumping 31 million votes, more than double the total of his closest rival.

"Judge me not by my ancestors, but by my actions," Marcos said as victory became apparent, vowing to "be a president for all Filipinos".

Three years into his presidency, Marcos has brought Manila closer to the US and increasingly confronted an assertive China in the South China Sea – a key departure from Duterte's presidency.

That wasn't the only thing that caused a crack in his alliance with Sara Duterte, which eventually descended into a public spat.

He gave her the Education portfolio, when she had openly sought the more powerful Defence portfolio. His allies in Congress then initiated impeachment proceedings against her over alleged misuse of state funds.

And Marcos cleared the way for her father to be arrested and taken to the Hague for his role in a deadly war on drugs that killed thousands.

Marcos, experts say, took a big risk by picking a fight with the Dutertes – for it to pay off, control of the senate was crucial.

But the midterm results complicate his chances – and his political future.