US Supreme Court temporarily blocks deportations of Venezuelans under 18th-century law – JURIST
The US Supreme Court early Saturday morning temporarily blocked the Trump administration’s latest attempt to deport Venezuelan nationals under a 1798 law known as the Alien Enemies Act (AEA). The Trump administration claims that the detainees are members of the gang “Tren de Agua,” which it has listed as a terrorist organization.
Lawyers for the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), representing two Venezuelan men subject to deportation, claimed federal officials informed “numerous Venezuelan nationals currently in the government’s custody” that they may be imminently deported under the ADA. The ACLU argued that “lightning-fast” deportations would deprive the men of their due process rights and violate a Supreme Court order made earlier this month.
In that decision, the Supreme Court vacated a lower court’s order that the Trump administration halt the deportations; the court reasoned that the plaintiffs did not bring their claims to the proper venue. However, the court stipulated that:
AEA detainees must receive notice after the date of this order that they are subject to removal under the Act. The notice must be afforded within a reasonable time and in such a manner as will allow them to actually seek habeas relief in the proper venue before such removal occurs.
The deportations are on hold pending appeals proceedings and further order of the Supreme Court.
Previously, a federal court in Washington, DC issued an injunction against the deportations as the first two of three flights of detainees were headed out to a controversial supermax prison in El Salvador. Those flights did not turn around, and another took off later. This led to Chief Judge James Boasberg of the US District Court for the District of Columbia finding probable cause to hold the Trump administration in contempt of court.
The Trump administration has come under fire in recent weeks for its moves to deport immigrants, even those with legal status. Last week, the US Supreme Court ordered the administration to facilitate the return of a man accidentally deported to El Salvador. Proceedings are still ongoing in the cases of Rümeysa Öztürk and Mahmoud Khalil, two students in immigration detention who had their statuses revoked over their pro-Palestinian activism.
