Sure. In a perfect world.

You know, women aren’t forced to have kids.

They absolutely would have defied the lower court’s order and just flown them to El Salvador. Then, when confronted, they could claim some sort of misunderstanding/incompetency. The worst that could be done to them would be to force them to ask El Salvador to return the migrants, to which the government of El Salvador just says “no.”

It’s better to seek forgiveness than ask for permission.