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SCOTUS Blocks Deportations by War Law 04/21 06:01
The Supreme Court on Saturday blocked, for now, the deportations of any
Venezuelans held in northern Texas under an 18th-century wartime law.
(AP) -- The Supreme Court on Saturday blocked, for now, the deportations of
any Venezuelans held in northern Texas under an 18th-century wartime law.
In a brief order, the court directed the Trump administration not to remove
Venezuelans held in the Bluebonnet Detention Center "until further order of
this court."
Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito dissented.
The high court acted in an emergency appeal from the American Civil
Liberties Union contending that immigration authorities appeared to be moving
to restart removals under the Alien Enemies Act of 1798. The Supreme Court had
said earlier in April that deportations could proceed only if those about to be
removed had a chance to argue their case in court and were given "a reasonable
time" to contest their pending removals.
"We are deeply relieved that the Court has temporarily blocked the removals.
These individuals were in imminent danger of spending the rest of their lives
in a brutal Salvadoran prison without ever having had any due process," ACLU
lawyer Lee Gelernt said in an email.
The Trump administration later Saturday filed paperwork urging the high
court to reconsider its hold. Press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Saturday in
a post on X: "We are confident we will ultimately prevail against the onslaught
of meritless litigation brought by radical activists."
On Friday, two federal judges refused to step in as lawyers for the men
launched a desperate legal campaign to prevent their deportation, even as one
judge said the case raised legitimate concerns. Early Saturday, the 5th U.S.
Circuit Court of Appeals also refused to issue an order protecting the
detainees from being deported.
The ACLU had already sued to block deportations of two Venezuelans held in
the Bluebonnet facility and sought an order barring removals of any immigrants
in the region under the Alien Enemies Act.
In an emergency filing early Friday, the ACLU warned that immigration
authorities were accusing other Venezuelan men held there of being members of
the Tren de Aragua gang, which would make them subject to President Donald
Trump's use of the act.
The act has only been invoked three previous times in U.S. history, most
recently during World War II to hold Japanese-American civilians in internment
camps. The Trump administration contended it gave them power to swiftly remove
immigrants they identified as members of the gang, regardless of their
immigration status.
Following the unanimous high court order on April 9, federal judges in
Colorado, New York and southern Texas promptly issued orders barring removal of
detainees under the AEA until the administration provides a process for them to
make claims in court.
But there had been no such order issued in the area of Texas that covers
Bluebonnet, which is 24 miles north of Abilene in the far northern end of the
state.
U.S. District Judge James Wesley Hendrix, a Trump appointee, this week
declined to bar the administration from removing the two men identified in the
ACLU lawsuit because Immigration and Customs Enforcement filed sworn
declarations that they would not be immediately deported. He also balked at
issuing a broader order prohibiting removal of all Venezuelans in the area
under the act because he said removals hadn't started yet.
But the ACLU's Friday filing included sworn declarations from three separate
immigration lawyers who said their clients in Bluebonnet were given paperwork
indicating they were members of Tren de Aragua and could be deported by
Saturday. In one case, immigration lawyer Karene Brown said her client,
identified by initials, was told to sign papers in English even though the
client only spoke Spanish.
"ICE informed F.G.M. that these papers were coming from the President, and
that he will be deported even if he did not sign it," Brown wrote.
Gelernt said in a Friday evening hearing before District Judge James E.
Boasberg in Washington, D.C., that the administration initially moved
Venezuelans to its south Texas immigration facility for deportation. But since
a judge banned deportations in that area, it has funneled them to the
Bluebonnet facility, where no such order exists. He said witnesses reported the
men were being loaded on buses Friday evening to be taken to the airport.
With Hendrix not agreeing to the ACLU's request for an emergency order, the
group turned to Boasberg, who initially halted deportations in March. The
Supreme Court ruled the orders against deportation could only come from judges
in jurisdictions where immigrants were held, which Boasberg said made him
powerless Friday.
"I'm sympathetic to everything you're saying," Boasberg told Gelernt. "I
just don't think I have the power to do anything about it."
Boasberg this week found there's probable cause that the Trump
administration committed criminal contempt by disobeying his initial
deportation ban. He was concerned that the paper that ICE was giving those held
did not make clear they had a right to challenge their removal in court, which
he believed the Supreme Court mandated.
Drew Ensign, an attorney for the Justice Department, disagreed, saying that
people slated for deportation would have a "minimum" of 24 hours to challenge
their removal in court. He said no flights were scheduled for Friday night and
he was unaware of any Saturday, but the Department of Homeland Security said it
reserved the right to remove people then.
ICE said it would not comment on the litigation.
Also Friday, a Massachusetts judge made permanent his temporary ban on the
administration deporting immigrants who have exhausted their appeals to
countries other than their home countries unless they are informed of their
destination and given a chance to object if they'd face torture or death there.
Some Venezuelans subject to Trump's Alien Enemies Act have been sent to El
Salvador and housed in its notorious main prison.
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