A federal appeals court panel denied President Donald Trump’s request to have a restraining order overturned Wednesday, which stopped his administration from deporting suspected Venezuelan gang members without a court hearing.
The appeals court ruling doesn’t completely stop Trump’s ability to deport people, he just can’t use the Alien Enemy’s Act (AEA) as the justification with regards to the plaintiffs listed in the case. The restraining order is also only in place for a few more days.
The 2-1 vote in the District of Columbia Court of Appeals meant that U.S. District Court Judge James Boasberg’s Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) remained in place, after he argued that the immigrants the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) had alleged were members of the Tren de Aragua gang were still entitled to due process.
“Before they may be deported, they are entitled to individualized hearings to determine whether the Act applies to them at all,” Boasberg wrote Monday, referring to the AEA. “As the Government itself concedes, the awesome power granted by the Act may be brought to bear only on those who are, in fact, ‘alien enemies.'”
Boasberg’s comments came hours before the appeals court hearing on the Trump administration’s use of the law and whether it was constitutional to implement it at this time.
Newsweek reached out to the White House and the ACLU via email for comment on Monday.
Why It Matters
Dozens of immigrants accused of being part of Tren de Aragua (TdA) were flown out of the United States to a Salvadoran prison last weekend despite Boasberg’s order to halt flights. Immigrants’ rights groups, who claim some individuals were falsely labeled gang members because of their tattoos, argue that all people placed in removal proceedings had a right to have their case heard in court.
ANNABELLE GORDON/AFP/Salvadoran Government via Getty Images
What To Know
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and at least five immigrants filed an appeal on March 15 in the District of Columbia to prevent the president from invoking the AEA.
Despite Boasberg stepping in and ordering the administration to cancel the flights, two of the three planes had already taken off, with over 200 individuals accused of being TdA members on board.
Among them was a soccer coach with a Real Madrid-inspired tattoo that his attorney said was mistaken for a TdA mark and a barber whose mother told Newsweek that he had entered the U.S. through a legal pathway.
Monday’s order by Boasberg stated that the men sent to El Salvador over a week ago deserved the right to argue these points in court.
Boasberg has repeatedly been vocal in his skepticism of the administration’s justification for removing the immigrants without due process. However, Trump, senior White House officials, and Republican members of Congress have called for his removal, claiming he has overstepped his role to get in the way of a law the president has a right to impose.
What Is The Alien Enemies Act?
Salvadoran Government via Getty Images
The use of the Alien Enemies Act came after the Trump administration declared TdA a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO), alongside Mexican cartels and the MS-13 gang, which began in Los Angeles. Trump has argued that these groups, particularly TdA, have carried out an “invasion” in the U.S., therefore allowing him to use the 1798 law.
The Act enables the federal government to speedily remove illegal immigrants it believes are a national security threat during a declared war or invasion. It was last used during World War II to detain and monitor German, Italian and Japanese immigrants.
The Trump administration’s declaration of an invasion at the southwest border, despite dramatically reduced crossings over the past several months, is the basis for invoking the law now.
What Does The Appeals Court Ruling Mean?
Amid the back-and-forth between Boasberg and the White House, the case was back before the D.C. Court of Appeals on Monday afternoon.
The three-judge panel heard arguments over whether Boasberg could impose restrictions on the Trump administration and whether the administration was correct in its arguments for the AEA’s implementation.
D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Patricia Millett asked the administration’s attorneys to justify reasons for invoking the AEA, including bypassing court hearings for deported individuals.
Millet said the administration had potentially misread the AEA and that the individuals who were flown to El Salvador should have been given the right to due process, echoing Boasberg’s words. She referred to the deportations of suspected Nazis during World War II, where individuals were given a chance to argue their case.
On Wednesday, the three-judge panel issued its decision denying the Trump administration’s petition to have the TRO revoked.
Judge Karen L. Henderson, who was appointed by former President George H.W. Bush, appeared skeptical of the government’s claim that an invasion was underway at the border in order to invoke the AEA.
“The term ‘invasion’ was a legal term of art with a well-defined meaning at the Founding,” Henderson wrote in her concurring statement. “It required far more than an unwanted entry; to constitute an invasion, there had to be hostilities.”
The decision means that the administration is still not able to remove plaintiffs from the country, at least until the TRO expires in a few days.
Can People Still Be Deported?
In his memo on Monday, Boasberg made it clear that his restraining order only applied to using the AEA against the plaintiffs listed and did not stop the government from deporting people through other means.
The restraining order does not prevent federal agents from arresting alleged TdA or other FTO members. It also doesn’t force officials to release them from custody. Plaintiffs are also not asking for this.
Other deportation routes are unaffected, the appeals court panel affirmed, but it was clear in Boasberg’s memorandum that he believed alleged illegal immigrants, whether suspected gang members or not, deserved the right to due process.
“The Constitution’s demand of due process cannot be so easily thrown aside,” Judge Patricia Millett, who was appointed by former President Barack Obama, wrote, stating this was why she had to deny the government’s appeal.
AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos
What Is Donald Trump’s Mass Deportation Plan?
Trump campaigned heavily on immigration, following years of increased illegal border crossings, which began during his previous term and continued under former President Joe Biden.
The Republican promised mass deportations of illegal immigrants, focusing on known serious and violent criminals, such as those in transnational criminal gangs like TdA. He also said upward of 11 million people could be removed from the country, referencing those without legal status. Many have been in the U.S. for decades.
Since returning to the White House in January, DHS has maneuvered federal agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), as well as from other agencies, such as the Drug Enforcement Agency and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, to ramp up arrests of illegal immigrants.
Hundreds of thousands of immigrants who arrived legally through Biden-era programs such as humanitarian parole are set to have their status revoked by the Trump administration, opening them up to potential removal.
ICE has been under pressure to deliver on deporting as many of those detained as possible. However, reports and DHS data suggest removals have not increased drastically since the Biden administration.
What People Are Saying
D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Patricia Millett, during Monday’s hearing: “Nazis got better treatment under the Alien Enemies Act than what happened here.”
D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Justin Walker, in his dissenting statement: “Deportees are already petitioning for habeas corpus in Texas. At least one petitioner has already secured a hearing date in the Southern District of Texas, plus a TRO preventing his removal in the interim. According to the Government, that’s exactly what Plaintiffs here should have done and still can.
“The district court here in Washington, D.C. — 1,475 miles from the El Valle Detention Facility in Raymondville, Texas — is not the right court to hear the Plaintiffs’ claims. The Government likely faces irreparable harm to ongoing, highly sensitive international diplomacy and national-security operations.”
Judge James Boasberg, speaking about alleged FTO members in his memo on Monday: “The noncitizens comprising the class are already in United States custody, and any actual Tren de Aragua member is already subject to deportation as a member of an FTO, so there is little additional harm to the public by temporarily preventing their removal.
“There is, moreover, a strong public interest in preventing the mistaken deportation of people based on categories they have no right to challenge. The public also has a significant stake in the Government’s compliance with the law.”
Trump’s border czar, Tom Homan, told ABC News on March 23: “We’re going to keep targeting the worst of the worst, which we’ve been doing since day one, and deporting from the United States through the various laws on the books.”
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt on March 20: “Americans can absolutely expect to see the continuation of the mass deportation campaign that has been successfully led by this president.”
What Happens Next
The Trump administration has made it clear it will continue with its deportation program despite the ongoing legal challenges.
