Donald Trump can no longer use an antiquated wartime law to speedily deport Venezuelan gang members, a federal appeals court ruled on Tuesday.
Using the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, the Trump administration deported hundreds of undocumented immigrants allegedly associated with the notorious Tren de Aragua gang.
Some were flown to El Salvador’s maximum security Terrorism Confinement Center.
The law Trump used is meant to allow presidents to remove migrants from enemy countries during an ‘invasion or predatory incursion.’
His strategy, however, has drawn many challenges in the court system from those arguing the U.S. is not facing an ‘invasion.’
Pro-immigrant groups claim migrants aren’t receiving due process to contest deportations due to the administration’s use of the obscure law.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit ruled on Tuesday that Trump cannot use the Alien Enemies Act because the activity of Tren de Aragua does not meet the definition of either an ‘invasion’ or a ‘predatory incursion.’
The White House slammed the most recent ruling, claiming: ‘The authority to conduct national security operations in defense of the United States and to remove terrorists from the United States rests solely with the President.’
‘[W]e expect to be vindicated on the merits in this case,’ White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson told the Daily Mail in a statement.
An appeals court rules on Tuesday that President Donald Trump cannot use the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to deport from the U.S. alleged Tren de Aragua gang members
In March, Trump invoked the act to remove a few hundred Venezuelan migrants to El Salvador. He claimed the deported men are criminals or affiliated with gangs
President Trump claims Tren de Aragua is engaged in an incursion under this 18th-century law because its members have perpetrated ‘mass illegal migration.’
But the three-judge panel rejected this argument two-to-one. It’s just the latest court decision pushing back on Trump’s hawkish deportation strategy.
‘A country’s encouraging its residents and citizens to enter this country illegally is not the modern-day equivalent of sending an armed, organized force to occupy, to disrupt, or to otherwise harm the United States,’ the court wrote in its Tuesday ruling.
It added: ‘There is no finding that this mass immigration was an armed, organized force or forces.’
While the appellate judges blocked using this specific law to remove migrants who sued in the Northern District of Texas, it recognizes the government can deport these migrants under other legal authorities.
Since Trump retook office in January, more than 6,000 Venezuelans have been deported from the U.S., according to available data. Of this total, 238 migrants were sent to the Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT) prison earlier this year.
On March 15, the Trump administration invoked the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to deport 137 alleged Venezuelan gang members to the El Salvador mega prison, according to a White House statement at the time.
While the Trump administration claims all those sent to CECOT are gang members or criminals, multiple reports claim otherwise.
Family members and migrant advocates claim that the men deported to El Salvador’s Terrorism Confinement Center this year have no criminal record or gang ties
Family members, immigration lawyers and human rights groups claim many deportees have no criminal record or verifiable gang affiliations.
Both New York Times and 60 Minutes investigations found that of the 238 men deported to El Salvador, there was little evidence of gang ties or criminal backgrounds.
Tuesday’s ruling on this case came after months of going back-and-forth between the federal judiciary.
The case was originally brought by migrants detained in Texas.
They sued to block their removal under the wartime Alien Enemies Act. And after the lower district court did not grant relief, the Fifth Circuit claimed they didn’t have jurisdiction to intervene.
The case then reached the Supreme Court in the spring, and while the high court blocked the migrants’ removal in April, a month later it was sent back down to the appellate for further review.
The Supreme Court said the Fifth Circuit was wrong to dismiss the case.
But the highest U.S. court also said the government didn’t provide migrants enough notice of their impending deportations by giving only 24-hour advance.
