Washington DC - President Donald Trump on Tuesday called for the impeachment of a federal judge who ordered the suspension of deportation flights for Venezuelans accused of being gang members, in a sharp escalation of his conflict with the judiciary.

"This judge, like many of the Crooked Judges’ I am forced to appear before, should be IMPEACHED," Trump wrote in a Truth Social post.

The White House has been critical of federal district courts which have blocked some of the president's executive actions, but this is the first time Trump has personally called for a judge's impeachment since he took office in January.

Federal judges are nominated by the president for life and can only be removed by being impeached by the House of Representatives for "high crimes or misdemeanors" and convicted by the Senate.

Donald Trump Trump freezes US-funded media outlets including Voice of America

Impeachment of federal judges is extremely rare and the last time a judge was removed by Congress was in 2010.

District Judge James Boasberg ordered a halt over the weekend to the deportation flights taking people accused of being part of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua to prisons in El Salvador.

The White House invoked little-used, centuries-old wartime legislation known as the Alien Enemies Act as legal justification for the flights.

Boasberg held a hearing on Monday on whether the White House had deliberately ignored his orders by carrying out the flights.

Justice Department lawyers told the judge the deportees had already left the US when he issued a written order barring their departure.

The judge also no longer had authority or jurisdiction once the planes had left US airspace, they argued.

The Justice Department had previously filed a motion with an appeals court seeking to have the judge removed from the case, saying he was interfering with the president's lawful "conduct of foreign policy."

Trump, in his Truth Social post, called Boasberg a "Radical Left Lunatic of a Judge, a troublemaker and agitator who was sadly appointed by Barack Hussein Obama."

Trump said the judge "was not elected President."

Donald Trump Chuck Schumer defends support for newly signed appropriations bill as Trump praises his "courage"

"I WON FOR MANY REASONS, IN AN OVERWHELMING MANDATE, BUT FIGHTING ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION MAY HAVE BEEN THE NUMBER ONE REASON FOR THIS HISTORIC VICTORY," he ranted.

The White House has repeatedly lashed out at the courts following rulings that it disagrees with, such as the rejection by district court judges of Trump's bid to end birthright citizenship.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio, speaking on the Guy Benson Show on Fox News Radio, was also critical of the judge in the deportation case.

"How can a judge sitting in Washington DC have jurisdiction over three planefuls of criminals flying over the Gulf of America?" Rubio said. "Really gotten out of control here where... all you got to do is go find a judge anywhere in America to issue these orders that apply nationally."

Trump's has appeared to be spoiling for a legal fight that will end up in the conservative-dominated US Supreme Court, becoming a test case for almost unfettered executive power.