The Trump/Elon/Putin Administration claims that the planes were already in the air when the judiciary struck down this mass deportation, and therefore the ruling didn’t apply to this specific case and by inference could apply to future cases.

Which is, of course, a bullshit excuse. Even if the ruling didn’t apply to midair flights themselves, everything done after landing would still be covered.

By any definition, handing the hostages over was in violation of the ruling

That somewhat indicates that they’ll respect the rule of law in mass deportations.

Wilhoit’s Law very much applies to how they see the world:

"Conservatism consists of exactly one proposition … There must be in-groups whom the law protects but does not bind, alongside out-groups whom the law binds but does not protect.”

Rich, white (pseudo-) Christian cis men is the entirety of the in-group, no matter how many Uncles Tom and Aunts Tomasina they currently have helping them achieve their goal.

If not, this could create a pipeline of Venezuelan citizens in America being labeled as gang members and sent to a Supermax prison in El Salvador with zero due process.

I hate to be a doomer, but it’s almost certain that they’ll eventually get away with doing that or something similar enough to make no significant difference 😮‍💨