Federal appeals court blocks Trump admin from deporting Tren de Aragua gang members under Alien Enemies Act

A federal appeals court has ruled that the Trump administration cannot deploy the 1789 Alien Enemies Act to expedite deportations of individuals alleged to be part of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua.

A 2-1 panel of the Fifth US Circuit Court of Appeals issued a preliminary injunction on Tuesday, siding with immigrant rights advocates and rejecting the administration’s attempt to use the 18th-century wartime law. The majority found no evidence of an “invasion or predatory incursion” required by the law’s language.

“Our analysis leads us to GRANT a preliminary injunction to prevent removal because we find no invasion or predatory incursion," the judges said. The ruling temporarily halts deportations under the law in Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi.

The Trump administration has argued that the law could be used to expedite deportations of gang members after it classified several South and Central American gangs, including Tren de Aragua, as foreign terrorist organizations earlier this year. At the time, the White House said the gang was “conducting irregular warfare and undertaking hostile actions against the United States,” including “mass illegal migration.”

However, the appeals court determined that the administration’s claims did not reach the level of national conflict Congress envisioned when it passed the Alien Enemies Act, which has historically only been used during declared wars. "A country encouraging its residents and citizens to enter this country illegally is not the modern-day equivalent of sending an armed, organized force to occupy, to disrupt, or to otherwise harm the United States," the majority added.

Back in April, the Supreme Court reviewed an earlier case related to the statute. The justices did not rule on its constitutionality but allowed deportations to proceed as long as individuals were given adequate notice before removal. 

Lee Gelernt, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union who argued against the administration, defended the ruling and declared it a check on reining in the Trump administration’s power.

"The Trump administration’s use of a wartime statute during peacetime to regulate immigration was rightly shut down by the court," Gelernt said, according to Fox News. "This is a critically important decision reining in the administration’s view that it can simply declare an emergency without any oversight by the courts.”