Supreme Court Keeps Hold on Block of Trump’s Wartime Deportation Policy

In a setback for President Trump’s contentious deportation policies, the Supreme Court on Friday upheld a block on the Trump Administration’s attempt to use a wartime law to deport individuals believed to be Venezuelan gang members.

The decision prolongs the court’s emergency order from April, which prevented Trump from employing the 1798 Alien Enemies Act to deport migrants held in a Texas detention center. Lawyers had argued that the detainees were being transported to an airport without the opportunity to legally challenge their deportation through habeas corpus petitions.

Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas dissented, with Alito stating that the Supreme Court had “no authority to issue any relief.”

The court’s unsigned order on Friday criticized the Trump Administration for providing detained migrants with only 24 hours to raise legal objections: “Under these circumstances, notice roughly 24 hours before removal, devoid of information about how to exercise due process rights to contest that removal, surely does not pass muster,” .

The Justices have sent the case back to a lower appeals court to determine the extent of due process the detainees should receive, the legality of Trump’s deportation plan, and the required amount of notice for migrants.

Shortly after the ruling, Trump voiced his disapproval on social media, stating: “THE SUPREME COURT WON’T ALLOW US TO GET CRIMINALS OUT OF OUR COUNTRY!” .

The Court did not address the fundamental question of whether the Trump Administration can utilize the Alien Enemies Act for deportations. This rarely invoked 18th-century wartime law has been cited by the Administration in its deportation efforts against Venezuelans alleged to be members of the Tren de Aragua gang. The Alien Enemies Act is applicable only during “invasions or predatory incursions,” but the government contends that the gang is conducting an incursion into the U.S. and has close ties to the Venezuelan government.

Legal experts and immigration advocates have criticized the Trump Administration’s efforts to deport migrants without allowing them to contest claims of gang membership, citing the case of , a Maryland resident who was mistakenly deported to El Salvador. The Supreme Court highlighted that the Trump Administration claims it cannot bring Abrego Garcia back even though it ruled that the government must “facilitate” his return, indicating that “the detainees’ interests at stake are accordingly particularly weighty.” Trump has contradicted this claim, stating in an ABC News interview last month that he could retrieve Garcia but was choosing not to.

Many legal challenges involving the Alien Enemies Act are filed under writs of habeas corpus, which grants detainees the right to challenge the legality of their detention. However, the Trump Administration has stated it was “actively looking at” suspending habeas corpus, citing a constitutional provision that allows for its suspension “in cases of rebellion or invasion.”

Just before Friday’s ruling, Trump criticized the Supreme Court on social media, despite having appointed three Justices: “THE SUPREME COURT IS BEING PLAYED BY THE RADICAL LEFT LOSERS, WHO HAVE NO SUPPORT, THE PUBLIC HATES THEM, AND THEIR ONLY HOPE IS THE INTIMIDATION OF THE COURT, ITSELF,” the President wrote. “WE CAN’T LET THAT HAPPEN TO OUR COUNTRY!”

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