Federal judges in both New York and Texas have blocked the deportations of Venezuelan men likely to be deported under the Trump administration’s invocation of the Alien Enemies Act, again stopping the White House’s attempts to remove alleged members of the Tren de Aragua gang after the Supreme Court cleared the way for their deportations this week.
In one case filed in Manhattan, attorneys for two Venezuelan men who are currently being detained in Orange County, New York, successfully argued to block their clients’ deportations and movement outside of the state and the United States. U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein, appointed to the federal bench by President Clinton, granted the temporary relief.
After their arrests, both men were first transferred to an ICE detention center in Texas before being moved to New York. One man, who is 21, came to the U.S. to escape Tren de Aragua violence, and the other, who is 32, actively protested the regime of Venezuelan dictator Nicholas Maduro, their attorneys wrote.
The new case in Texas was brought on behalf of the same Venezuelans who challenged their potential deportation in Washington, D.C., where the initial block of the deportations was entered by U.S. District Judge James Boasberg before it was lifted by the Supreme Court on Monday in a 5-4 decision. The Texas judge overseeing the petition, Fernando Rodriguez Jr., was appointed to the federal bench by President Trump during his first term.
In a brief order shortly after the habeas petition was filed, Rodriguez blocked the Trump administration from transferring or removing from the El Valle Detention Center the three Venezuelan men or any other Venezuelan citizen held in the Southern District of Texas who are subject to deportation under Mr. Trump’s proclamation.
The temporary order also prevents the Trump administration from unilaterally transporting those migrants outside of Willacy County — where the detention facility is located — or neighboring Cameron County, Texas.
The temporary restraining order from Rodriguez will remain in place until April 23, or until he weighs in further. He is set to consider whether to extend his order or issue other forms of emergency relief at a hearing set for Friday.
Rodriguez wrote in his decision that absent emergency relief, there is a “substantial likelihood” that federal immigration officials will remove the Venezuelan migrants who face deportation under the Alien Enemies Act from the U.S.
“In the present matter, the court finds that the removal of J.A.V, J.G.G., W.G.H., or any other individual subject to the proclamation, by the United States would cause immediate and irreparable injury to the removed individuals, as they would be unable to seek habeas relief,” he wrote. “Furthermore, if the United States erroneously removed an individual to another country based on the proclamation, a substantial likelihood exists that the individual could not be returned to the United States”
Rodriguez referenced the ongoing case brought by a Maryland man, Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who was arrested by immigration authorities last month and sent to El Salvador, where he is currently in the notorious prison known as CECOT. A Trump administration official acknowledged Abrego Garcia’s removal to El Salvador was an “administrative error,” but the government has said he is now in custody of the Salvadoran government.
An emergency appeal involving Abrego Garcia is currently pending before the Supreme Court.
Both sets of plaintiffs are attempting to convince judges not just to block the deportations of the men who filed suit, but to block all future deportations of any Venezuelans under this statute. They argue that the Trump administration’s invocation of the law is unconstitutional because the U.S. is not at war with Venezuela and dispute the government’s categorization of the plaintiffs as gang members, arguing they have been falsely accused of being in the Tren de Aragua gang.
“Tren de Aragua, a criminal organization, is not a nation or a foreign government and is not part of the Venezuelan government,” the complaint filed in Texas says, adding that the government’s evidence for Tren de Aragua membership “relies heavily on physical attributes like tattoos, hand gestures, symbols, logos, graffiti and manner of dress,” none of which, attorneys argue, are “reliable ways of identifying gang members.”
The Alien Enemies Act of 1798 has only been used three times, and all during declared wars.
Attorneys in the New York case argued in their habeas petition that the two men “and others similarly situated to them are now all at imminent risk of removal,” under the Alien Enemies Act, adding that since Monday, “the government is resuming its summary removals of Venezuelans who are in ongoing immigration proceedings, including petitioners here, without any judicial review.”
The new cases were filed after the Supreme Court allowed the Trump administration to restart for now deportations of migrants it claims are members of a Venezuelan gang. But the court specified that any migrants facing removal under the Alien Enemies Act are subject to due process, and said that as of Monday night, detainees must receive notice that they are subject to deportation.
The Supreme Court said in an unsigned opinion that “the notice must be afforded within a reasonable time and in such a manner as will allow them to actually seek habeas relief in the proper venue before such removal occurs.”
The court also specified that any claims brought by migrants that the administration says are covered by Mr. Trump’s proclamation belong in habeas corpus proceedings to be brought in the district where they are confined.
While the high court struck down the judge’s lower court block on further deportations under the statute after the Trump administration sent two planes carrying alleged gang members deported under the Alien Enemies Act to El Salvador, it also ruled that those subject to removal under the law are entitled to judicial review. There was no judicial review, multiple courts found, for over 230 migrants who were sent to El Salvador in March, where they remain detained at a maximum security prison there.
contributed to this report.