Trump Asks Supreme Court To Let Venezuelan Deportations Resume

Donald Trump asked the US Supreme Court to let his administration resume deporting alleged Venezuelan gang members without hearings, escalating a high-profile showdown that is testing the ability of federal judges to enforce limits on the president’s power.

The request seeks to toss out a temporary halt imposed by a federal trial judge on deportations under a wartime statute Trump invoked in a March 15 proclamation. A federal appeals court in Washington ruled against the administration on a 2-1 vote Wednesday. 

If granted, the request would open at least a temporary window for Trump under the statute, the 1798 Alien Enemies Act. That would let the administration again ship people out of the country, potentially without giving them a chance to ask a judge to consider their contentions that they aren’t gang members.

“This case presents fundamental questions about who decides how to conduct sensitive national-security-related operations in this country,” the president or the courts, acting US Solicitor General Sarah Harris said in the filing. “The Constitution supplies a clear answer: the president.”

The emergency request to the Supreme Court is the administration’s third this week, amid a barrage of far-reaching executive actions since Trump took office Jan. 20. More than 175 lawsuits have been filed challenging his agenda. The Supreme Court so far has taken a careful approach and largely steered clear of intervening in the early stages of the litigation.

Chief Justice John Roberts asked the migrants who sued the administration to file a response by Tuesday, indicating the Supreme Court might move quickly on the request. 

US District Judge James Boasberg on Friday extended his order so that it will apply until April 12 unless the Supreme Court intervenes. Boasberg is considering a request for a longer-term halt that potentially would apply until the litigation is resolved.

In a concurring opinion that accompanied the appeals court decision, Judge Patricia Millett blasted the administration for saying the government could immediately resume mass deportation if Boasberg’s order were lifted. “The Constitution’s demand of due process cannot be so easily thrown aside,” she wrote.

Lawyers challenging the move say many of those deported haven’t committed any crimes and aren’t gang members. 

The new filing doesn’t directly involve one of the most explosive aspects of the case: charges that the administration defied Boasberg’s oral order to turn around two planes that were carrying migrants to a prison in El Salvador. That aspect of the case, including the administration’s refusal to provide information about the flights on grounds that it would put state secrets at risk, remains before Boasberg.

Harris, the administration’s top Supreme Court lawyer, argues in the 40-page filing that Boasberg and the appeals court overstepped their authority by blocking deportations across the country. She contends that people seeking to avoid being deported need to file a so-called habeas corpus petition, which generally involves only a single person. 

The government also says the five alleged gang members who sued must press their case in Texas, where they are being held.

The dispute stems from Trump’s invocation of the Alien Enemies Act to target alleged members of the Tren de Aragua gang. The law lets the president bypass the nation’s immigration laws to deport people when the US is involved in a declared war or a foreign nation has started or threatened an “invasion or predatory incursion.” 

The 227-year-old law previously had been invoked only in the War of 1812, World War I and World War II. 

The administration says Boasberg improperly intruded on the president’s authority to declare an invasion, deport dangerous immigrants and conduct foreign affairs and national security. 

The groups challenging the declaration — the American Civil Liberties Union and Democracy Forward — say Trump is misusing a law that was designed for use during war with a foreign country.

The Supreme Court case is Trump v. J.G.G., 24A931. The district court case is J.G.G. v. Trump, 25-cv-766, US District Court, District of Columbia (Washington).