US judge bars Trump’s use of wartime law to deport Venezuelans
Ruling marks the biggest setback yet for Trump to deport suspected gang members under the rarely used Alien Enemies Act
A federal judge in Texas ruled that President Donald Trump improperly invoked a 227-year-old wartime law to deport accused Venezuelan gang members to an El Salvador prison, setting up what may become yet another high-stakes battle at the US Supreme Court.
The decision Thursday marked the biggest setback yet for Trump’s effort to unilaterally deport suspected gang members under the rarely used Alien Enemies Act of 1798, which he invoked in a March 15 presidential proclamation that triggered a wave of arrests and litigation.
US District Judge Fernando Rodriguez Jnr, a Trump appointee, ruled the president’s actions were not legal because the US was not being invaded by a foreign force or experiencing a “predatory incursion” as required by the law, which would allow for removal of such aliens without due process.
Rodriguez’s order permanently bars such removals from his district in southern Texas – the first such order of its kind.
“The historical record renders clear that the president’s invocation of the AEA through the proclamation exceeds the scope of the statute and is contrary to the plain, ordinary meaning of the statute’s terms,” Rodriguez said in the ruling.