Trump invoked the Alien Enemies Act on Saturday via executive order
(The Independent)
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A federal judge has blocked President Donald Trump’s administration from carrying out deportations under the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, which the Republican invoked against a Venezuelan gang earlier Saturday.
Chief Judge James Boasberg issued a temporary restraining order on deportations under the wartime law on Saturday night. This order blocks the removal of any non-citizens who are in custody under the Alien Enemies Act for at least 14 days. The decision comes in response to a lawsuit from the American Civil Liberties Union and Democracy Forward challenging the law.
“I think there’s clearly irreparable harm here given these folks will be deported,” Boasberg said. “A brief delay in their removal does not cause the government any harm.”
“Particularly given the plaintiffs’ information, unrebutted by the government, that flights are actively departing and planning to depart, I do not believe that I’m able to wait any longer,” he added. “Any plane containing these folks that is going to take off or is in the air needs to be returned to the United States.”
Boasberg previously issued a preemptive block on the removal of five Venezuelans who were already in custody and believed they were being about to be removed from the country on Saturday morning.
Trump then issued the executive order on Saturday afternoon, invoking the rarely-used wartime power against members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua.
“I proclaim that all Venezuelan citizens 14 years of age or older who are members of TdA, are within the United States, and are not actually naturalized or lawful permanent residents of the United States are liable to be apprehended, restrained, secured, and removed as Alien Enemies,” Trump wrote in his order.
More to come...