Appeals Court Blocks Trump from Deporting Dangerous Illegal Alien Gang Members

A federal appeals court has ruled against President Donald Trump’s administration, saying it cannot use an 18th-century wartime statute to fast-track deportations of illegal alien members of the violent Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua.

In a 2–1 decision, the Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals sided with immigrant rights lawyers who argued that the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 was never intended to be used against criminal gangs during peacetime.

Attorney Lee Gelernt, who argued the case for the  American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), said:

“The Trump administration’s use of a wartime statute during peacetime to regulate immigration was rightly shut down by the court.

“This is a critically important decision reining in the administration’s view that it can simply declare an emergency without any oversight by the courts.”

The Alien Enemies Act has been used just three times in U.S. history.

It was used during the War of 1812 and the two World Wars.

The Trump administration had argued that Tren de Aragua posed a direct threat to U.S. security and justified the statute’s use.

Tren de Aragua is a transnational criminal syndicate with ties to Venezuela’s socialist regime,

Officials deported dangerous foreign gang members to a mega-prison in El Salvador, maintaining that U.S. courts could not order their release there.

More than 250 deported illegal aliens were later returned to Venezuela under a deal announced in July.

But the majority opinion said Trump’s allegations fell short of the level of “invasion or predatory incursion” envisioned by Congress when the law was passed.

U.S. Circuit Judges Leslie Southwick and Irma Carrillo Ramirez wrote:

“A country encouraging its residents and citizens to enter this country illegally is not the modern-day equivalent of sending an armed, organized force to occupy, to disrupt, or to otherwise harm the United States.”

In a blistering dissent, Judge Andrew Oldham said the majority was improperly second-guessing the president’s foreign policy and national security judgments.

“The majority’s approach to this case is not only unprecedented—it is contrary to more than 200 years of precedent,” Oldham wrote.

The ruling blocks deportations from Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi under the Alien Enemies Act.

However, the court also upheld one Trump administration procedure, finding that the advisements detainees receive about their rights under the law are legally sound.

The administration can now appeal to the full Fifth Circuit or take the fight directly to the U.S. Supreme Court, which is expected to ultimately decide the issue.

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