Trump-Appointed Judge Blocks Administration From Using Alien Enemies Act To Deport Gang Members

A federal judge permanently blocked the Trump administration on Thursday from using the Alien Enemies Act (AEA) to deport foreign gang members.

Judge Fernando Rodriguez Jr., a Trump appointee, held the president’s March 15 proclamation invoking the AEA to target members of the Venezuelan Tren de Aragua gang is “unlawful” because the statute has historically only referred to an “organized, armed force entering the United States” to attack.

“[T]he historical record renders clear that the President’s invocation of the AEA through the Proclamation exceeds the scope of the statute and is contrary to the plain, ordinary meaning of the statute’s terms,” the judge wrote.

The proclamation “cannot be read as describing conduct that falls within the meaning of ‘invasion’ for purposes of the AEA,” Rodriguez’s opinion states.

“While the Proclamation references that TdA members have harmed lives in the United States and engage in crime, the Proclamation does not suggest that they have done so through an organized armed attack, or that Venezuela has threatened or attempted such an attack through TdA members,” Rodriguez wrote.

Rodriguez noted that the executive branch’s authority to “direct the detention and removal of aliens who engage in criminal activity in the United States” is not in question.

“The Executive Branch has and will continue to rely on the Immigration and Nationality Act to remove aliens found to represent a danger to the country,” Rodriguez said.

The Supreme Court issued an order around 1 a.m. on April 19 temporarily blocking the administration from using the AEA for deportations. Justice Samuel Alito criticized his colleagues in a dissent for bypassing normal procedures to issue the order without letting the lower courts rule.