WASHINGTON (AP) — On Saturday, a federal judge prevented the Trump administration from executing deportations based on an expansive 18th-century law that the president had invoked just hours earlier to expedite the removal of Venezuelan gang members from the United States.
U.S. District Judge James E. Boasberg stated that his decision was urgent as the government was already in the process of flying migrants, whom it claimed were newly deportable under President Donald Trump’s proclamation, to be held in El Salvador and Honduras. This week, El Salvador had already agreed to accept up to 300 migrants identified by the Trump administration as gang members.
“I cannot delay any longer and must act,” Boasberg remarked during a Saturday evening hearing regarding a lawsuit filed by the ACLU and Democracy Forward. “A short postponement of their removal does not harm the government,” he added, highlighting that the individuals remain in government custody while directing that any planes already in the air must turn back.
This ruling came just after Trump announced that the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua was invading the United States, invoking the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, which grants the president greater authority during wartime to expedite mass deportations.
Historically, this act has been utilized only three times, all during wartime, with the most recent implementation during World War II when Germans, Italians, and Japanese-Americans were incarcerated.
In a proclamation released roughly an hour before Boasberg’s hearing, Trump alleged that Tren de Aragua was essentially at war with the United States.
“Over the years, Venezuelan national and local authorities have relinquished increasing control over their territories to transnational criminal organizations, including TdA,” Trump stated. “Consequently, a hybrid criminal state is invading and predating upon the United States, posing a significant threat to national security.”
This order could enable the administration to deport any migrant identified as a gang member without following standard immigration protocols, potentially removing additional protections under criminal law for targeted individuals.
In response to the ruling, Attorney General Pam Bondi criticized Boasberg’s suspension of deportations. “This order disregards established authority regarding President Trump’s powers and endangers public safety and law enforcement,” Bondi asserted.
The Tren de Aragua gang, which originated in a prison in Venezuela, has accompanied the migration of millions seeking improved living conditions due to the collapse of their nation’s economy. Trump and his supporters have spotlighted the gang as the face of the perceived threat from undocumented immigrants and formally classified it as a “foreign terrorist organization” last month.
Reports of Tren de Aragua members being arrested have emerged from several countries, although the Venezuelan government claims to have dismantled the organization.
The government indicated that Trump actually signed the proclamation on Friday night. Immigration lawyers observed a sudden initiative by the federal government to deport Venezuelans who would otherwise have no legal grounds for expulsion, prompting them to file lawsuits to obstruct what they believed was a forthcoming proclamation.
Initially, Boasberg issued an order at 9:20 a.m. Saturday, preventing the Trump administration from deporting five Venezuelans who were plaintiffs in the ACLU lawsuit and were detained by the government, apprehensive about their imminent deportation. The Trump administration appealed this decision, arguing that halting a presidential action before public announcement would undermine the executive branch.
If the order remains in effect, the Justice Department argued that “district courts would have the authority to restrain virtually any urgent national-security action merely upon receiving a complaint.”
Following that, Boasberg arranged an afternoon hearing to determine whether to broaden his order to include all individuals who could be targeted under Trump’s announcement.
Deputy Assistant Attorney General Drew Ensign asserted that the president holds extensive authority to identify threats and take action under the 1798 law, referencing a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that allowed President Harry Truman to detain a German citizen in 1948, three years post-World War II, under this statute.
“This will significantly encroach upon presidential prerogatives,” Ensign stated regarding an injunction.
However, Lee Gelernt from the ACLU argued that Trump lacked the authority to utilize the law against a criminal gang rather than a recognized state. Boasberg noted that precedents on this matter are complicated, yet the ACLU presented reasonable arguments for potential success, justifying his order.
Boasberg has halted deportations for those in custody for up to 14 days and set a Friday hearing in the case.
The rapid influx of litigation emphasizes the impact of Trump’s declaration, marking another effort by the administration to expand presidential power. Ensign maintained that following the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, Congress granted the president authority to act against “transnational” threats similar to recognized state threats. Gelernt cautioned that the Trump administration could readily enact a new proclamation to apply the Alien Enemies Act against another gang, like MS-13, which has frequently been a target for Trump.
___
Associated Press writer Regina Garcia Cano in Caracas, Venezuela, contributed to this report.
