Updated at 2:24 p.m.

U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan in Washington, D.C., was outraged Thursday when he learned federal agents had “spirited away”—by airplane, in the middle of a court case—a mother and her daughter who were seeking asylum in the U.S.

Sullivan directed the government “to turn that plane around either now or when it lands, turn that plane around and bring those people back to the United States. It's outrageous.” U.S. prosecutors said they did not “disagree” with Sullivan's ire, and they said they would comply with the order. Sullivan went so far as to threaten contempt proceedings against U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions.