Lawyers for a small group of Venezuelan men are urging the Supreme Court not to let President Donald Trump resume deportations of alleged Tren de Aragua gang members without due process, warning that the men could face life imprisonment in a notorious Salvadoran prison if deported.
The urgent request made by five Venezuelans comes after Trump last week asked the justices to lift a lower court order temporarily blocking deportations under the Alien Enemies Act, a 1798 wartime law now being used by the administration to justify mass removals.
Attorneys with the American Civil Liberties Union and Democracy Forward argue that the statute allowing the president to detain and expel foreign nationals deemed enemies cannot be used as a blank check for executive power.
“This would quickly become a limitless source of power,” attorneys for the men wrote in a response brief, warning that if the president could unilaterally label any group an “enemy” or declare an “invasion,” courts would be powerless to stop arbitrary removals.
The five men say they have no gang ties, and one claims he is being targeted solely because of the design of his tattoos. Dozens of others already deported to El Salvador under the program say they were similarly misidentified and are now being held “incommunicado” in a prison notorious for abuse, according to court filings.
“If allowed to proceed, these men will suffer extraordinary and irreparable harms — shipped out of the U.S. without any opportunity to contest their designation as gang members,” their attorneys wrote.
In a tangential dispute related to this case, U.S. District Judge James Boasberg, who first blocked the use of the Alien Enemies Act for deportations, has demanded the administration explain this week why two deportation flights to El Salvador continued after he had verbally ordered them halted in mid-March.
Stephen Miller, a key architect of Trump’s immigration agenda, has defended using the Alien Enemies Act, claiming it is not subject to court review. “You can read the law yourself,” Miller told CNN. “There’s not one clause in that law that makes it subject to judicial review.”
DOJ ASKS SUPREME COURT TO OVERTURN HOLD ON ALIEN ENEMIES ACT DEPORTATIONS
The Supreme Court could grant a temporary green light to resume deportations while the case proceeds, a decision with sweeping implications for presidential authority. Conversely, the justices may uphold the lower court’s decision to pause the deportations while litigation proceeds.
The legal clash is part of a wave of more than 180 lawsuits challenging Trump’s executive orders as he reshapes the federal government.
