Judge blocks Trump from using wartime Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to deport immigrants

A federal judge on Saturday night temporarily blocked President Trump from removing immigrants under a wartime law known as the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 after the president announced earlier in the day that he would enforce the law. Despite the ruling, 261 people were deported to El Salvador on Saturday, 137 of whom were removed under the Alien Enemies Act over alleged gang ties, a senior administration official said. 

The White House and Justice Department have said they had already been removed from the country when the judge made his ruling.

The judge's ruling was in response to a federal civil lawsuit filed Saturday by a group of five Venezuelan men in immigration custody in Texas and New York local jails against President Trump and other administration officials. 

Mr. Trump invoked the 227-year-old wartime law earlier Saturday. 

The lawsuit filed in federal court in Washington, D.C., by attorneys with the ACLU and Democracy Forward argues the Alien Enemies Act is "a wartime measure that has been used only three times in our Nation's history: the War of 1812, World War I and World War II."

In a new filing late on Sunday, the plaintiffs in the case accused the Trump administration of violating the judge's order, alleging that the court had made it clear any planes in the air at the time the order was issued should return to the U.S. In the motion filed overnight, the plaintiffs requested "that the Court immediately direct the government to submit one or more sworn declarations from individuals with direct knowledge of the facts clarifying" the timing of the flights carrying the individuals to Ecuador in relation to the issuance of the court's order.  

Presidents are given the extraordinary power by the 227-year-old Alien Enemies Act to order the arrest, detention and deportation of noncitizens who are 14 years or older and come from countries staging an "invasion or predatory incursion" of the U.S. 

James E. Boasberg, chief judge of the District Court for the U.S. District of Columbia, on Saturday implemented a temporary restraining order preventing their deportations for 14 days. The Justice Department appealed that decision, arguing the D.C. court has no authority over the case because none of the five men are in the district. Four are being held in detention in Texas and one in New York. They further argued that invocation of the Alien Enemies Act is "speculation." 

Then, following an emergency hearing Saturday evening, Boasberg expanded his order to include "all noncitizens in U.S. custody" who are covered by Mr. Trump's move to invoke the Alien Enemies Act. 

"We are thrilled the judge recognized the severe harm our plaintiffs would face if removed," said Lee Gelernt, the ACLU attorney leading the lawsuit against Mr. Trump's proclamation, following Boasberg's decision. "The President's use of the Alien Enemies Act is flat out lawless."   

Boasberg also appeared to verbally indicate that any deportation flights that were currently in the air with migrants subject to this order on board should be returned to the U.S., although that directive was not part of his written order.

Social media posts from Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele indicated at least one flight carrying deported individuals had arrived in his country after the order. In one post, Bukele commented on a news story about the ruling by writing, "Oopsie… Too late." That post was shared by U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and White House Communications Director Steven Cheung.

The Trump administration insists it did not defy the court order. The Justice Department, which has appealed the ruling, said in a court filing that several people "had already been removed from United States territory under the Proclamation before the issuance of this Court's second order." It noted that the five men covered by the first temporary restraining order had not been deported.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt on Sunday said, "The Administration did not 'refuse to comply' with a court order," also saying the order came after the deportation flight to El Salvador had left the country.

The lawsuit states that Mr. Trump is "expected to authorize immediate removal of noncitizens that the Proclamation deems to be alien enemies, without any opportunity for judicial review."

"It also contorts the plain language of the Act: arrivals of noncitizens from Venezuela are deemed an 'invasion' or 'predatory incursion' by a 'foreign nation or government,' where Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan gang, is deemed to be sufficiently akin to a foreign nation or government," the lawsuit alleges. 

As such, the government can identify any Venezuelan in the U.S. as a member of that gang, regardless of facts, and seek to deport them, the lawsuit alleges. 

Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a statement responding to the ruling that, "Tonight, a DC trial judge supported Tren de Aragua terrorists over the safety of Americans. TdA is represented by the ACLU. This order disregards well-established authority regarding President Trump's power, and it puts the public and law enforcement at risk."

The lawsuit further argued that the Alien Enemies Act "has only ever been a power invoked in time of war, and plainly only applies to warlike actions: it cannot be used here against nationals of a country — Venezuela — with whom the United States is not at war, which is not invading the United States, and which has not launched a predatory incursion into the United States."

The next hearing in the case is scheduled for March 21.