The Supreme Court has temporarily blocked the Trump administration from deporting an unspecified number of Venezuelan men from the US under the 1798 Alien Enemies Act. The men are all alleged to be members of a foreign criminal gang.
“The Government is directed not to remove any member of the putative class of detainees from the United States until further order of this Court,” the order states.
The order, which grants an emergency application filed by the Venezuelan men, was subject to dissent from Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito.
The emergency application was filed by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), which asked the Supreme Court to block the Trump administration from deporting its clients. The ACLU is also seeking a temporary restraining order in the US District Court of the District of Columbia and a stay of removal from the Fifth Circuit.
Last month, President Trump designated Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan gang, as a foreign terrorist organization. In an Executive Order, he said the President said the group is “perpetrating, attempting, and threatening an invasion or predatory incursion against the territory of the United States.”
The President then invoked the Alien Enemies Act to allow the “immediate apprehension, detention, and removal” of members of Tren de Aragua who are Venezuelan citizens 14 years of age or older and who are not U.S. citizens or lawful permanent residents of the United States.
On 15 March, the Trump administration used the Alien Enemies Act to deport nearly 150 Venezuelans to El Salvador, to be incarcerated in the Center for Terrorist Confinement (CECOT).
The ACLU, in its application, alleged that many of the Venezuelan men deported from the US are not members of Tren de Aragua.
“Such false accusations are particularly devastating given the present Applicants’ strong claims for relief under our immigration laws,” the application said.
In a decision on 7 April, the Supreme Court had granted President Trump’s request to pause a district judge’s stay order preventing the administration from using the Alien Enemies Act to deport suspected members of Tren de Aragua, but ruled that detainees must be given the opportunity to challenge their removal from the US.
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