Judge rules Trump administration can’t use Alien Enemies Act to remove Venezuelan migrants in southern Texas
Washington — A federal judge ruled Thursday that the Trump administration cannot rely on the wartime Alien Enemies Act to detain or remove from the U.S. a group of Venezuelan migrants who are being held at a facility in southern Texas.
The decision from U.S. District Judge Fernando Rodriguez, appointed by President Trump in his first term, is a significant setback for the president as he seeks to crack down on illegal immigration into the U.S. Mr. Trump issued a proclamation in March invoking the Alien Enemies Act to swiftly deport Venezuelan migrants who he claims are members of the gang Tren de Aragua, but Rodriguez’s order permanently blocks the administration from using the AEA and Mr. Trump’s proclamation to detain, transfer or remove Venezuelan migrants who either live or are detained in the Southern District.
Rodriguez’s order clarifies that his permanent injunction does not prohibit administration officials from moving forward with removal proceedings under the Immigration and Nationality Act.
“The question that this lawsuit presents is whether the president can utilize a specific statute, the AEA, to detain and remove Venezuelan aliens who are members of TdA,” Rodriguez wrote. “As to that question, the historical record renders clear that the president’s invocation of the AEA through the proclamation exceeds the scope of the statute and is contrary to the plain, ordinary meaning of the statute’s terms.”
As a result of that finding, the judge said that the executive branch cannot use Mr. Trump’s invocation of the AEA through his proclamation to detain or deport the Venezuelan migrants in southern Texas.
The Trump administration, Rodriguez wrote in a 36-page opinion, does “not possess the lawful authority under the AEA, and based on the proclamation, to detain Venezuelan aliens, transfer them within the United States, or remove them from the country.” The decision is likely to be appealed.
“The court ruled that the president lacks authority simply to declare that there’s been an invasion of the U.S. and then invoke an 18th Century wartime authority during peacetime,” Lee Gelernt, a lawyer with the American Civil Liberties Union who argued on behalf of the Venezuelan migrants, said in a statement. “Congress never meant for this law to be used in this manner and the court correctly ruled that the president’s actions are subject to judicial scrutiny.”
Enacted in 1798, the Alien Enemies Act allows the president to assert broad powers when there is a “declared war” or when “any invasion or predatory incursion is perpetrated, attempted to threatened” against the U.S. by a foreign nation or government.
The law has only been invoked three times, and all during periods of declared wars. But Mr. Trump’s March proclamation claimed that the gang Tren de Aragua “is perpetrating, attempting, and threatening an invasion or predatory incursion against the territory of the United States.” The measure claimed that the gang is undertaking “hostile actions and conducting irregular warfare” against the U.S. directly and at the direction of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s regime.
Mr. Trump’s proclamation said that all Venezuelan citizens who are at least 14 years old and in the U.S. unlawfully were subject to apprehension and removal as “alien enemies.”
Shortly after the president invoked the Alien Enemies Act, three Venezuelan migrants detained at the El Valle Detention Center in Raymondville, Texas, who were subject to removal because of the proclamation, filed a lawsuit in federal district court in Washington, D.C., seeking to block the move.
That lawsuit set off a series of events that played out in March and led the Supreme Court to allow removals under the Alien Enemies Act. But crucially, the high court said Venezuelan migrants covered by the declaration were entitled to notice and the opportunity to challenge their confinement and removal under the Alien Enemies Act through habeas corpus proceedings brought in the district where they are being detained.
As a result of that decision, the three Venezuelan migrants detained at the El Valle facility sought relief in the Southern District of Texas. While they did not take issue with their detention, they challenged the Trump administration’s ability to deport them based on the president’s proclamation and the Alien Enemies Act, and denied being members of Tren De Aragua.
In granting the Venezuelan migrants relief, Rodriguez said that a presidential declaration invoking the Alien Enemies Act must include “sufficient factual statements” or refer to other pronouncements that allow a court to determine whether the alleged actions satisfy the conditions to apply the law.
“Allowing the president to unilaterally define the conditions when he may invoke the AEA, and then summarily declare that those conditions exist, would remove all limitations to the Executive Branch’s authority under the AEA, and would strip the courts of their traditional role of interpreting congressional statutes to determine whether a government official has exceeded the statute’s scope. The law does not support such a position,” he wrote.
Rodriguez also found that “invasion” and “predatory incursion,” as used in the law, “must involve an organized, armed force entering the United States to engage in conduct destructive of property and human life in a specific geographical area.” That action, however, does not need to be a precursor to an actual war, the judge said.
“As for the activities of the Venezuelan-directed TdA in the United States, and as described in the proclamation, the court concludes that they do not fall within the plain, ordinary meaning of ‘invasion’ or ‘predatory incursion’ for purposes of the AEA,” Rodriguez wrote.
The Trump administration’s attempted use of the Alien Enemies Act has sparked similar challenges in judicial districts across the country where Venezuelan migrants facing removal under the president’s proclamation are being detained. Federal judges in New York and Colorado have temporarily blocked deportations relying on the 225-year-old law while proceedings continue.
The clash involving the migrants in South Texas, initially brought in Washington, D.C., led a judge there to find probable cause to find the Trump administration in criminal contempt of court. That finding arose from what the judge said was immigration officials’ defiance of an order to turn around planes carrying Venezuelan migrants subject to removal under the Alien Enemies Act that was bound for El Salvador.
The White House has repeatedly attacked federal judges for their orders in cases involving his crackdown on immigration.