The US Supreme Court has mandated a halt to the deportation of a group of Venezuelans accused of gang affiliations, following a legal challenge against the Trump administration’s actions.
A civil liberties organization filed a lawsuit regarding the planned deportations of Venezuelans detained in North Texas, invoking an 18th-century wartime law. On Saturday, the Supreme Court issued an order preventing the government from removing any of the detainees “until further order of this Court.”
Legal background and implications
Former President Donald Trump had initiated the deportation of accused Venezuelan gang members to a high-security prison in El Salvador, utilizing the 1798 Alien Enemies Act. This law allows the president to detain and deport individuals from nations labeled as “enemies” without standard legal procedures. Historically, this act has been invoked only three times, all during wartime, most notably during World War II when individuals of Japanese descent faced imprisonment without trial and were sent to internment camps.
Trump accused the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua of “perpetrating, attempting, and threatening an invasion or predatory incursion” upon US soil. According to a senior administration official, as of April 8, 137 out of 261 Venezuelans deported to El Salvador were removed under the Alien Enemies Act. A lower court had previously issued a temporary block on these deportations on March 15.
ACLU’s challenge and Supreme Court’s intervention
On April 8, the Supreme Court ruled that while Trump could utilize the Alien Enemies Act for deportation of alleged gang members, detainees must have the opportunity to contest their removal. The lawsuit leading to the recent Supreme Court order highlighted discrepancies in the notification process, stating that some detainees received notices about their imminent deportation in English, even though at least one individual did not understand the language. Furthermore, the lawsuit claimed that the detainees were not informed of their right to challenge the deportation in court.
“Without this Court’s intervention, dozens or hundreds of proposed class members may be removed to a possible life sentence in El Salvador with no real opportunity to contest their designation or removal,” the lawsuit read.
The Supreme Court Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito dissented in the recent ruling. During his second inaugural address in January, Trump vowed to “eliminate the presence of all foreign gangs and criminal networks bringing devastating crime to US soil.”
The administration has employed the Alien Enemies Act to deport individuals from Central and South America, not exclusively Venezuelans suspected of gang affiliations. In a prominent case, the government acknowledged that it mistakenly deported Kilmar Ábrego García, a national from El Salvador, arguing he was affiliated with the MS-13 gang—a claim that his lawyer and family refute. Despite the Supreme Court’s unanimous decision to facilitate the return of Mr. Ábrego García, the Trump administration has asserted that he will “never” be allowed to reside in the US again.
Senator Chris Van Hollen, a Democrat from Maryland, visited Mr. Ábrego García in El Salvador, noting that he had been transferred from the notorious mega-jail Cecot (Terrorism Confinement Centre) to a different prison facility.