On Tuesday, a federal appeals court declared that President Donald Trump acted unlawfully when he invoked the Alien Enemies Act to try to deport Venezuelans, whom he claimed were members of a criminal gang.
In a 2-1 decision, a three-judge panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued a preliminary injunction that blocked the Trump administration from removing a group of Venezuelans under the seldom-used 18th-century law.
The Fifth Circuit is the first federal appeals court to rule directly on a March 14 presidential proclamation invoking the 1798 law to justify rapid deportations.
Circuit Judge Leslie Southwick, writing for the two-judge majority, rejected the Trump administration’s assertion that the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua had engaged in a “predatory incursion” on U.S. soil.
The Act gives the government expansive powers to detain and deport citizens of hostile foreign nations, but only in times of war, or during an “invasion or predatory incursion.”
Southwick was appointed by former President George W. Bush. He was joined by Circuit Judge Irma Carrillo Ramirez, an appointee of President Joe Biden.
Circuit Judge Andrew Oldham, a Trump appointee, dissented.
The Trump administration could ask the entire 5th Circuit to rehear the case. It is expected to eventually reach the Supreme Court.
“The Trump administration’s use of a wartime statute during peacetime to regulate immigration was rightly shut down by the court,” said American Civil Liberties Union attorney Lee Gelernt, who represented the Venezuelans.
“This is a critically important decision reining in the administration’s view that it can simply declare an emergency without any oversight by the courts.”
A White House spokeswoman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
1798 Law
The case before the 5th Circuit was brought by a group of alleged Tren de Aragua members being held at the Bluebonnet Detention Facility in Anson, Texas. The ACLU, which represents the men, has disputed the claims of gang membership.
In his March 14 proclamation, Trump said he would use the 1798 law to swiftly detain and deport members of Tren de Aragua. Trump asserted that the gang is a state-sponsored international terrorist organization that has invaded United States territory.
The Supreme Court ruled in April that challenges to removal under the law must be brought in the federal judicial districts where detainees are being held.
The court said it was not resolving the validity of the administration’s reliance on that law to carry out the deportations.
Since then, challenges to the president’s invocation of the Alien Enemies Act have been unfolding in courts across the country, and several judges have blocked deportations under the law within their judicial districts.
The case before the 5th Circuit briefly reached the Supreme Court in May.
In an order, the high court granted a request by the organization that removals be halted while the case unfolds. The court also faulted the Trump administration attempting to swiftly remove the detainees just one day after providing them with deportation notices.
“Notice roughly 24 hours before removal, devoid of information about how to exercise due process rights to contest that removal, surely does not pass muster,” the order stated.
Two conservative justices — Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito — dissented from the May ruling.
(With inputs from Reuters)
