A federal judge gave the U.S. Department of Justice an additional day to answer questions about three deportation flights to El Salvador after his order Saturday for the planes to return to the United States.

The government motioned Wednesday for more time to answer Judge James Boasberg’s questions about the deportation flights, calling the judge’s queries “a picayune dispute over the micromanagement of immaterial fact finding.”

The government also said, “The court’s actions to date represent grave usurpations of the president’s powers under the Aliens Enemies Act.”

In its filing, the government said the state secrets privilege — which allows the government to protect national security information in civil litigation — was under consideration.

 “The secretary of state has revealed many operational details of the flights, including the number of people involved in the flights, many of their identities, the facility to which they were brought, their manner of treatment and the time window during which these events occurred,” Boasberg replied.

The back-and-forth escalated Wednesday at the White House, where Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt called Boasberg an activist.

“Under the Alien Enemies Act, the president has this power, and that’s why this deportation campaign has continued,” she said. “And this judge, Judge Boasberg, is a Democrat activist. He was appointed by Barack Obama, his wife has donated more than $10,000 to Democrats and he has consistently shown his disdain for this president and his policies, and it’s unacceptable.”

Boasberg was first appointed to the bench by former President George W. Bush and later elevated to federal district court by former President Barack Obama.

Last week, Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested a Maryland man whose wife believes was on one of the flights to El Salvador. ICE referred questions to the White House or State Department.

According to his attorney, Lucia Curiel, the man, who News4 refers to as Armando to protect his identity and his wife’s, had what’s called withholding of removal — a legal status signed by an immigration judge in 2019.

“It is illegal for the government to deport him to El Salvador because the judge has found that he met the standard for withholding of removal, meaning his life would be in danger if he were deported to El Salvador,” Curiel said.

His wife said Armando had a job as a sheet metal worker and a work permit. She has not heard from since Saturday.

She said he is in prison in El Salvador. She said she recognized him in a video and photos posted to social media by the country’s president.

In a court filing Monday, ICE said several of the people deported last weekend and flown to El Salvador did not have criminal records. But ICE argued the lack of a criminal record does not indicate the people pose a limited threat, arguing that they are “terrorists” that the U.S. lacks a “complete profile” on.

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