The Supreme Court ruled that the Trump administration must provide alleged Venezuelan Tren de Aragua (TdA) gang members with more notice, prior to deporting them under the 1798 Alien Enemies Act (AEA).
In a 7-2 decision on Friday, the Supreme Court found that Venezuelan migrants facing deportation under the AEA had not received enough notice regarding their deportation, while also not weighing in on whether or not the Trump administration was able to deport suspect illegal alien gang members, according to CNBC.
Supreme Court Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas dissented.
“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,” the majority justices wrote in the ruling.
Justice Alito, whom Justice Thomas joined, said the court has no role in setting rules for the AEA implementation
“I cannot join the decision of the Court,” Alito said. “First and most important, we lack jurisdiction and therefore have no authority to issue any relief. Second, even if we had such authority, the applicants have not satisfied the requirements for the issuance of injunctive relief pending appellate review.”
Per the Hill, the Supreme Court’s decision represents a “win” for the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), which filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration on behalf of suspected Venezuelan migrants who are suspected of being TdA gang members and are being detained in Texas:
Over the dissents of conservative Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito, the emergency decision prevents authorities from removing the migrants under the Alien Enemies Act as a legal challenge proceeds, a win for the American Civil Liberties (ACLU), which is suing on the migrants’ behalf.
“To be clear, we decide today only that the detainees are entitled to more notice than was given on April 18, and we grant temporary injunctive relief to preserve our jurisdiction while the question of what notice is due is adjudicated,” the justice’s said in the ruling.
The justice’s also pointed out that the Trump administration “may remove the named plaintiffs or putative class members under other lawful authorities.”
Justice Brett Kavanaugh partly dissented:
“The circumstances call for a prompt and final resolution, which likely can be provided only by this Court,” Kavanaugh said. “At this juncture, I would prefer not to remand to the lower courts and further put off this Court’s final resolution of the critical legal issues. Rather, consistent with the Executive Branch’s request for expedition—and as the detainees themselves urge—I would grant certiorari, order prompt briefing, hold oral argument soon thereafter, and then resolve the legal issues.”
Since President Donald Trump invoked the AEA in March, his administration has faced several legal challenges from judges attempting to block the administration from using the AEA to deport suspected illegal alien gang members.
In a Proclamation entitled, “Invocation of the Alien Enemies Act Regarding the Invasion of The United States by Tren De Aragua,” Trump stated that TdA was a “designated Foreign Terrorist Organization with thousands of members, many of whom have unlawfully infiltrated the United States and are conducting irregular warfare and undertaking hostile actions against the United States.”
“I find and declare that TdA is perpetrating, attempting, and threatening an invasion or predatory incursion against the territory of the United States,” Trump said. “TdA is undertaking hostile actions and conducting irregular warfare against the territory of the United States both directly and at the direction, clandestine or otherwise, of the Maduro regime in Venezuela.”
Trump continued to note 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.”
The Supreme Court’s decision comes as a U.S. District Judge Stephanie Haines recently found that the Trump administration was allowed to use the AEA to deport suspected TdA gang members. Haines ruled that the Trump administration’s description of TdA’s predatory incursion into the nation was faithful to the AEA’s definition of “predatory incursions in 1798.”
The Supreme Court had previously lifted a block from U.S. District Judge James Boasberg that prevented the Trump administration from deporting suspected illegal alien gang members under the AEA.
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