Judge bars Trump from invoking 18th-century law to expel Venezuelan migrants

Court Rules Trump Cannot Use Alien Enemies Act to Deport Venezuelan Gang Members

A federal appeals court has ruled that Donald Trump unlawfully invoked the Alien Enemies Act to deport individuals he claimed were members of a Venezuelan criminal organization.

In a 2-1 decision, a panel of judges from the Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued a preliminary injunction preventing the Trump administration from removing the Venezuelans under the rarely used 18th-century law.

This marks the first time a federal appeals court has ruled directly on a March presidential proclamation that cited the 1798 law to expedite deportations.

Circuit Judge Leslie Southwick, writing for the majority, dismissed the Trump administration’s claim that the Venezuelan group Tren de Aragua had carried out a “predatory incursion” on U.S. soil.

The Alien Enemies Act grants the government broad authority to detain and deport citizens of hostile nations, but only during war or an actual invasion.

Southwick, appointed by former President George W. Bush, was joined by Judge Irma Carrillo Ramirez, a Biden appointee. Judge Andrew Oldham, a Trump appointee, dissented.

The Trump administration may request a rehearing before the full Fifth Circuit. The case is likely to reach the Supreme Court.

“The court correctly halted the administration’s misuse of a wartime statute for immigration control during peacetime,” said American Civil Liberties Union attorney Lee Gelernt, who represented the Venezuelans. “This decision affirms that the courts have a role in checking executive overreach.”

Separately, Trump stated that U.S. forces had killed 11 Venezuelan drug traffickers in an operation in the Caribbean Sea.

On Tuesday, Trump told reporters the military had “just, over the last few minutes, literally shot out … a drug-carrying boat.”