A federal appeals court has rejected President Donald Trump’s use of the Alien Enemies Act to deport Venezuelan nationals. The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, in a 2-1 decision issued Tuesday evening, found that the administration’s invocation of the 1798 law was not justified.
The three-judge panel included Judge Leslie Southwick and Judge Irma Ramirez in the majority, with Judge Andrew Oldham dissenting. According to Reuters, this is the first time a federal appeals court has ruled directly on Trump’s March 14 presidential proclamation that sought to use the Alien Enemies Act for expedited deportations.
Judge Southwick wrote for the majority that there had been no “invasion or predatory incursion” as required by the law. The administration had argued that members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua represented such a threat on U.S. soil, but this claim was rejected by the court.
The Alien Enemies Act grants broad authority to detain and deport citizens from hostile nations, but only during war or in cases of invasion or predatory incursion.
Earlier this year, the U.S. Supreme Court temporarily blocked efforts by the Trump administration to deport certain Venezuelan gang members under this act. In an unsigned order, the Supreme Court stated: “Under these circumstances, notice roughly 24 hours before removal, devoid of information about how to exercise due process rights to contest that removal, surely does not pass muster.”
Following this decision, the case returned to the Fifth Circuit for further review. Despite several district courts ruling against Trump’s use of the act for these deportations, a federal judge in Pennsylvania recently became the first to allow its application specifically for members of Tren de Aragua.
