Washington, D.C. | In a dramatic legal turn, the United States Supreme Court has temporarily halted the Trump administration’s attempt to deport a group of Venezuelan migrants under the controversial Alien Enemies Act, a wartime-era law rarely used in modern times. The unsigned emergency order came in the early hours of Saturday morning, preventing the removal of more than 50 migrants from the Bluebonnet Detention Center in Anson, Texas.
The deportations—reportedly set to transfer the migrants to a high-security penitentiary in El Salvador—had drawn intense legal opposition from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), which filed emergency motions across three courts within five hours on Friday. This included a last-minute appeal to the Supreme Court after a district court judge and the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals declined to stop the removals.
The Trump administration had invoked the Alien Enemies Act—a law dating back to 1798—claiming that the migrants were linked to the Venezuelan street gang Tren de Aragua. Immigration lawyers, however, argued that the government failed to provide due process and issued removal waivers in English to detainees who could not understand the language.
Among the affected is a 19-year-old detainee identified as Y.S.M., accused based on a Facebook photo that allegedly showed him with a weapon. His lawyer argued that the item in question was a water gun and denied any gang affiliation.
Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito dissented from the decision to block the deportations. Meanwhile, the Supreme Court’s brief order did not offer a formal explanation, in line with typical emergency rulings.
This ruling comes amid growing scrutiny of the Trump administration’s expanded immigration crackdown, which has reportedly already resulted in five deportation flights to El Salvador. The deal, brokered with Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele, involves detaining alleged gang affiliates in El Salvador’s infamous CECOT prison for a fee.
Judge James Boasberg in Washington, who previously ordered a pause on such deportations in March, is now weighing whether to initiate contempt proceedings after reports emerged that prior deportation flights defied his earlier orders.
The ACLU has requested a nationwide injunction that would require the government to give at least 30 days’ notice before removing anyone under the Alien Enemies Act, arguing that migrants must be allowed to contest deportation in the jurisdictions where they are detained.
As the legal battle continues to unfold, the Supreme Court’s intervention signals that further scrutiny may be on the horizon for one of the most controversial uses of presidential power in the immigration context.
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