A federal appeals court rejected the Trump administration’s request to lift a restraining order on its use of the Alien Enemies Act, dealing a blow to President Donald Trump as he attempts to carry out aggressive deportation plans for alleged Venezuelan gang members.
A three-judge panel in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia ruled in a 2-1 decision that Judge James Boasberg’s temporary restraining order barring the Trump administration from using the wartime deportation law could stay in place. Judge Justin Walker, who was appointed by Trump, dissented.
Judge Karen Henderson, an appointee of former President George H.W. Bush, wrote an opinion for the panel and deconstructed the Trump administration’s argument that the court did not have a say over how a president decides to implement the Alien Enemies Act.
The decision came after Trump signed a proclamation invoking the act this month, which he said gave him the power to bypass all other immigration laws and immediately begin deporting Venezuelan migrants detained in the United States who are alleged members of the transnational Tren de Aragua gang.
Federal authorities flew three planes of alleged gang members to El Salvador to be detained there, prompting the American Civil Liberties Union to file a lawsuit saying the deportees were not all members of Tren de Aragua and that Trump improperly used the Alien Enemies Act, which requires a declaration of war or invasion attributable to a foreign country.
APPEALS COURT APPEARS DIVIDED ON TRUMP’S USE OF ALIEN ENEMIES ACT AGAINST VENEZUELAN MIGRANTS
Henderson wrote that the courts do, in fact, have the authority to review Trump’s actions.
“At the outset, the government’s suggestion that judicial review of the Alien Enemies Act is categorically foreclosed is incorrect,” the judge said.
This story is developing.