A federal appeals court ruled the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 cannot be used to accelerate deportations of people accused of membership in the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua. A three-judge Fifth Circuit panel found the act was intended for wartime use against nations, not gangs, and granted a preliminary injunction after finding no invasion or predatory incursion. The decision halts a major administration deportation effort and is likely headed to the Supreme Court. The government had deported designated members to a notorious prison in El Salvador; more than 250 later returned to Venezuela under a July deal. The act had been used only three times previously during declared wars.
A federal appeals court has ruled that Donald Trump cannot use an 18th-century wartime law to speed up the deportations of people his administration accuses of being members of a Venezuelan gang. The ruling late on Tuesday blocks a signature administration push that is likely to be destined for a final showdown at the US supreme court. A three-judge panel of the fifth US circuit court of appeals, one of the most conservative federal appeals courts in the country, agreed
Lee Gelernt, who argued the case for the American Civil Liberties Union, said: The Trump administration's use of a wartime statute during peacetime to regulate immigration was rightly shut down by the court. 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. The Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to a request from the Associated Press for comment.
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