Trump’s Use Of Wartime Law For Venezuela Deportations Deemed Unlawful By Judge

A U.S. judge on Thursday ruled that President Donald Trump’s administration cannot use an 18th-century wartime law to deport certain Venezuelan migrants, marking the most significant legal setback yet for a major element of the Republican president’s hardline immigration policies.

U.S. District Judge Fernando Rodriguez, based in Brownsville, Texas, issued a 36-page ruling, determining that the Trump administration overstepped the bounds of the Alien Enemies Act by using it to expedite the deportations of individuals allegedly associated with the Venezuelan gang, Tren de Aragua. The U.S. government had designated the gang as a terrorist organization.

Trump’s mid-March proclamation, which invoked the 1798 law to justify the swift deportations, had already been met with multiple legal challenges. Judges in various states temporarily blocked the government from deporting migrants detained within their jurisdictions under the Alien Enemies Act. A Colorado judge had ruled the previous week that the administration must give migrants at least 21 days to contest their potential deportation in court.

The judge, appointed by Trump during his first term, delivered a permanent injunction against deportations of Venezuelan nationals detained in the Southern District of Texas under the law. This ruling was the first to explicitly reject Trump’s invocation of the Alien Enemies Act, stating that the actions of Tren de Aragua in the U.S. did not qualify as an “invasion” or “predatory incursion,” which would be necessary for the law’s application.

“The President’s invocation of the AEA through the Proclamation exceeds the scope of the statute and, as a result, is unlawful,” Rodriguez wrote in his ruling.

His district includes the facility from which at least 137 Venezuelan men were deported to El Salvador on March 15, right after Trump enacted the law.

White House spokesperson Kush Desai responded in a statement, asserting that Trump’s victory in the election gave him a mandate to deport individuals deemed terrorist illegal aliens.

“The Trump administration is committed to unapologetically using every lever of power bestowed by the Constitution and Congress to fulfill this mandate, and we are confident that we will ultimately prevail,” Desai said.

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