Supreme Court again blocks quick deportations under Alien Enemies Act in new blow to Trump

President Trump cannot use the 18th-century Alien Enemies Act to quickly deport a group of suspected Venezuelan gang members currently being held in Texas, the Supreme Court ruled Friday.

In an unsigned order, the justices ruled that the South Americans should remain in the US while lower courts decide how far in advance migrants must be informed of their removal.

Friday’s ruling follows an April 19 order that also blocked quick deportations under the 1798 law, invoked by the administration earlier this year.

“We did not on April 19—and do not now—address the underlying merits of the parties’ claims regarding the legality of removals under the AEA,” the majority opinion read, noting at the very end that the government could still deport the migrants “under other lawful authorities.”

However, those removals would typically require notice and a chance to challenge their deportation in court.

The order cited the Trump administration’s inability to effectuate the return of alleged MS-13 gang member Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who was deported to his native in El Salvador in March despite a court order barring his removal to the Central American nation, as evidence of the gravity of the consequences at stake. 

“The Government has represented elsewhere that it is unable to provide for the return of an individual deported in error to a prison in El Salvador … where it is alleged that detainees face indefinite detention,” read the opinion. “The [Texas] detainees’ interests at stake are accordingly particularly weighty.”

“Under these circumstances, notice roughly 24 hours before removal, devoid of information about how to exercise due process rights to contest that removal, surely does not pass muster.”

Conservative Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas noted their dissents from the order, while Justice Brett Kavanaugh authored a brief concurring opinion.

“From the Court’s order, it is not entirely clear whether the Court has silently decided issues that go beyond the question of interim relief. (I certainly hope that it has not.),” Alito wrote. “But if it has done so, today’s order is doubly extraordinary. Granting certiorari before a court of appeals has entered a judgment is a sharp departure from usual practice, but here neither the Court of Appeals nor the District Court has decided any merits questions.”

The case will now head back to the New Orleans-based Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals for further review. 

The justices ordered the lower court to determine “the precise process necessary to satisfy the Constitution in this case.” 

The high-court’s freeze on Alien Enemies Act deportations applies only to the migrants held in north Texas; however, other judges have separately paused deportations in New York, Colorado, and South Texas.

More than 100 migrants alleged by the Trump administration to have gang affiliations have already been deported via the 18th-century law.  

Trump designated Venezuelan prison gang Tren de Aragua as a foreign terrorist organization early in his second term. 

The president proclaimed that Tren de Aragua’s presence in the US,  which boomed under the Biden administration, amounted to an “invasion” when he invoked the act in mid-March. 

Trump has repeatedly expressed his dissatisfaction with judges that have slowed the pace of his deportation efforts. 

White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller suggested earlier this month that the Trump administration would look to suspend due process rights for certain migrants if courts don’t “do the right thing.” 

“The Constitution is clear, and that, of course, is the supreme law of the land, that the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus can be suspended at a time of invasion. So I would say that’s an action we’re actively looking at,” Miller told reporters outside the White House. “A lot of it depends on whether the courts do the right thing or not.”

Trump blasted the ruling in a Truth Social post Friday evening.

“The Supreme Court has just ruled that the worst murderers, drug dealers, gang members, and even those who are mentally insane, who came into our Country illegally, are not allowed to be forced out without going through a long, protracted, and expensive Legal Process, one that will take, possibly, many years for each person, and one that will allow these people to commit many crimes before they even see the inside of a Courthouse,” he charged.

“The result of this decision will let more CRIMINALS pour into our Country, doing great harm to our cherished American public. It will also encourage other criminals to illegally enter our Country, wreaking havoc and bedlam wherever they go. The Supreme Court of the United States is not allowing me to do what I was elected to do. Sleepy Joe Biden allowed MILLIONS of Criminal Aliens to come into our Country without any “PROCESS” but, in order to get them out of our Country, we have to go through a long and extended PROCESS. In any event, thank you to Justice Alito and Justice Thomas for attempting to protect our Country. This is a bad and dangerous day for America!”