Judge James Boasberg denied the Trump administration‘s request to lift a temporary block on deporting alleged Venezuelan gang members through the Alien Enemies Act, saying in an order issued Monday that the migrants are allowed to challenge whether they qualify for deportation.
Boasberg, an Obama appointee, wrote that the Trump administration gave little to no due process to two planes’ worth of Venezuelan migrants before flying them from the United States to a Salvadoran prison that abuses its detainees.
“As the Government itself concedes, the awesome power granted by the Act may be brought to bear only on those who are, in fact, ‘alien enemies,’” Boasberg wrote.
Lawyers for the Trump administration said in court filings that it “carefully vetted” the Venezuelans and determined they were members of the transnational gang Tren de Aragua, which the U.S. deems a terrorist organization.
But the American Civil Liberties Union claimed on behalf of five migrants in a class action lawsuit against the Trump administration that federal authorities attempted to deport them even though they were not Tren de Aragua members. The administration also mistakenly deported others using the Alien Enemies Act, the ACLU alleged.
The Alien Enemies Act is a law that has only been invoked during war and was last used in the aftermath of Pearl Harbor. The White House issued the proclamation to use it late on March 14 or early March 15 and abruptly proceeded to move alleged Tren de Aragua members detained in Immigration and Customs Enforcement facilities to a new location in Texas for deportation.
The alleged gang members were then flown to El Salvador on March 15 while Boasberg issued orders that same day temporarily pausing the Trump administration’s use of the Alien Enemies Act while the lawsuit with the ACLU proceeds.
Boasberg emphasized on Monday that his order was narrow and that if the Venezuelans were indeed illegal migrants belonging to a criminal gang, other authorities found in immigration laws give the Trump administration the ability to deport them legally.
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The appellate court in the District of Columbia is set to hear oral arguments later on Monday about Boasberg’s temporary restraining order.
Meanwhile, Boasberg has ordered the Trump administration to provide him details by Tuesday about when the flights took off and landed on March 15 to clarify whether his order to halt the use of the Alien Enemies Act that day was defied.