A federal judge on Thursday dealt a major blow to former President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown, ruling that his administration unlawfully used an 18th-century wartime law to deport certain Venezuelan migrants.
In a 36-page opinion, U.S. District Judge Fernando Rodriguez permanently barred the administration from using the Alien Enemies Act to deport Venezuelans detained in the Southern District of Texas. The ruling marks the most sweeping judicial rejection to date of Trump’s legal justification for fast-tracked deportations.
The Trump administration had invoked the 1798 law in mid-March to expedite the removal of Venezuelan nationals alleged to be members of Tren de Aragua, a criminal organization the government labeled a terrorist group. The decision led to the rapid deportation of at least 137 Venezuelan men to El Salvador on March 15 from a detention facility in Rodriguez’s jurisdiction.
But the judge, a Trump appointee, found that the administration had overstepped the law’s original intent. “The President’s invocation of the AEA through the Proclamation exceeds the scope of the statute and, as a result, is unlawful,” Rodriguez wrote, adding that the actions of Tren de Aragua in the U.S. did not constitute an “invasion” or “predatory incursion” as defined by the law.
His decision is the first to strike down the administration’s use of the Alien Enemies Act outright, though courts in other states had issued temporary blocks on similar deportations. A judge in Colorado last week ordered that migrants be given at least 21 days to contest their removal in court.
Despite the setback, the Trump camp remained defiant. White House spokesman Kush Desai defended the administration’s actions, stating that Trump’s re-election had given him a clear mandate to remove what he described as “terrorist illegal aliens.”
“The Trump administration is committed to unapologetically using every lever of power endowed to the executive branch by the Constitution and Congress to deliver on this mandate,” Desai said. “We are confident that we will ultimately prevail.”
