A federal judge has temporarily blocked Donald Trump’s administration from carrying out deportations under the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, which the president invoked against members of a Venezuelan gang earlier Saturday.
Chief Judge James Boasberg issued a temporary restraining order on deportations under wartime law on Saturday night. This order blocks the deportation of any non-citizens in custody and facing removal under the Alien Enemies Act for at least 14 days.
The decision comes in response to a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union and Democracy Forward challenging Trump’s order hours before he signed it.
“I think there’s clearly irreparable harm here given these folks will be deported,” Boasberg said. “A brief delay in their removal does not cause the government any harm.”
“Particularly given the plaintiffs’ information, unrebutted by the government, that flights are actively departing and planning to depart, I do not believe that I’m able to wait any longer,” he added. “Any plane containing these folks that is going to take off or is in the air needs to be returned to the United States.”
The White House was preparing to move some 300 people the administration identified as members of the gang to El Salvador, the Associated Press reports.
Earlier Saturday, Boasberg had issued a preemptive block on the removal of the five Venezuelans identified in the lawsuit who believed they were about to be removed. At that point, Trump had not yet signed the executive order.
Trump issued the executive order on Saturday afternoon, invoking the rarely-used wartime power against members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua. Trump’s order claims the gang is invading the US, and under the Alien Enemies Act, the administration has new powers to deport members.
“I proclaim that all Venezuelan citizens 14 years of age or older who are members of TdA, are within the United States, and are not actually naturalized or lawful permanent residents of the United States are liable to be apprehended, restrained, secured, and removed as Alien Enemies,” Trump wrote in his order.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio labeled the gang a foreign terrorist organization last month following an executive order that allowed him to do so.
The Alien Enemies Act of 1798 is intended to be invoked when the country is at war or if a foreign nation has invaded the U.S. or has issued threats that it will. While the administration is pointing to threats from gangs and cartels, legal experts noted that it will be challenging for the administration to use the law when the country isn’t being actively attacked by a foreign government.
Beatriz Lopez, co-executive director of the Immigration Hub, said in a statement that “Trump is unearthing one of America’s darkest laws to launch a deportation dragnet unlike anything in modern history.”
The Independent has contacted the White House for comment.
Source: independent.co.uk