Hello from CNN, I'm Joe Beck, with the five things you need to know for Monday, March 17th.

Hundreds of mostly Venezuelan alleged gang members were deported from the U.S. to El Salvador yesterday,

despite a court ruling temporarily blocking the move.

The White House used the 18th century Alien Enemies Act to push ahead with the removals.

We asked CNN's Elena Trin for the details.

Joe, this is a move the White House knew was going to face serious legal challenges, and that's

because this is an 18th century law designed to be invoked if the United States is at war

with another country.

Now, the United States is clearly not at war with Venezuela, but the legal challenges get even

more complicated given the questions over whether the Trump administration intentionally defied

a federal judge's order, declaring that the planes carrying these Venezuelan migrants to an El Salvador

prison be turned around.

The White House insists they did not defy the order, arguing it was issued after these migrants had already been removed from U.S. territory, but there's still questions over the exact

timing of how this corresponds to the deportation operation.

All to say, if the administration did defy the judge's order, it would potentially

create the most serious legal quagmire of the administration thus far.

A powerful storm system is set to move offshore today after it tore across the U.S. this weekend.

It left devastated communities in its wake, as several states were hit with violent tornadoes,

wildfires, and dust storms. At least 39 people have died across seven states, including

a dozen in Missouri, where this man described helping a woman who had only one room left standing.

She was trapped at it. We got her out the window, got her up to the earth home that's up the road.

We were helping other people. We found a few bodies that was out in the field, a few deceased people.

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