Supreme Court blocks Trump effort to deport Venezuelan migrants under Alien Enemies Act
The Supreme Court on Friday decided in favor of an appeal by a group of Venezuelan migrants who asked the high court to halt their deportation under the Alien Enemies Act (AEA).
The decision, similar to others it has made in the past on the matter, revolved around the alleged illegal immigrants not having enough time to reasonably file a challenge to their deportations. Two justices, Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito, dissented.
President Donald Trump has been using the 1798 Alien Enemies Act to try and speed up the deportation processes of illegal immigrants, but the Supreme Court's Friday ruling presents another blow to those attempts after the court ruled against the Trump administration in their effort to remove men already in immigration custody in a northern region of Texas.
SUPREME COURT BLOCKS NEW DEPORTATIONS OF VENEZUELANS IN TEXAS UNDER 18TH CENTURY ALIEN ENEMIES ACT
"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. But it is not optimal for this Court, far removed from the circumstances on the ground, to determine in the first instance the precise process necessary to satisfy the Constitution in this case. We remand the case to the Fifth Circuit for that purpose," the ruling from the court reads.
The court did not rule on Friday on whether the AEA was lawful, but rather sent the matter back to the New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
"To be clear, we decide today only that the detainees are entitled to more notice than was given on April 18," the Supreme Court's ruling said.
Last month, the Supreme Court lifted a lower court's order barring the government from deporting migrants under the AEA. However, that decision also made clear that anyone the government wants to deport must be given proper notice. A few weeks after that decision, the Court halted deportations of illegal immigrants in Texas that the Trump administration was trying to proceed with under the AEA.
The Supreme Court's Friday decision to once again halt deportations by the Trump administration comes a day after the High Court's justices heard oral arguments in a case on birthright citizenship, which is also tied to whether federal judges can use their power to block the president's executive actions nationwide. Several lower court federal judges have sought to stop the Trump administration from rapidly deporting illegal immigrants under the AEA.
Including the birthright citizenship case, there are five other pending emergency appeals dealing with challenges to Trump executive actions.
Those include cases related to temporary protected status (TPS) for Venezuelan migrants, immigrant parole programs, independent agency member firings, DOGE access to Social Security Administration data and federal workforce-reduction efforts — the last of which was filed on Friday afternoon.
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"THE SUPREME COURT WON’T ALLOW US TO GET CRIMINALS OUT OF OUR COUNTRY!" Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform after news of the ruling.
The president followed up with a subsequent post on the platform, as well.
"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 wrote.
"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!"