Voluntarist
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Judge rules Trump use of Alien Enemies Act for gangs is ‘unlawful’
A federal district judge ruled Thursday that the Alien Enemies Act (AEA) does not permit President Trump to swiftly deport alleged Venezuelan gang members to a prison in El Salvador, extending a block on the law being used against migrants detained in South Texas.
U.S. District Judge Fernando Rodriguez Jr., a Trump appointee, said the rarely used law can only be invoked when an “organized, armed force” is entering the United States, rejecting the president’s claims that he can use it against alleged members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua (TdA).
The ruling from Rodriguez offered a historical deep dive into the rarely used statute — used just three times prior in U.S. history, and all during times of war — while parsing terms central to igniting the power.
Rodriguez determined Trump’s efforts to use the law to deport alleged gang members strayed from the strict war powers, writing that Trump’s invocation “exceeds the scope of the statute and, as a result, is unlawful.”
“The Proclamation makes no reference to and in no manner suggests that a threat exists of an organized, armed group of individuals entering the United States at the direction of Venezuela to conquer the country or assume control over a portion of the nation. Thus, the Proclamation’s language cannot be read as describing conduct that falls within the meaning of ‘invasion’ for purposes of the AEA,” he wrote.
“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. As a result, the Proclamation also falls short of describing a ‘predatory incursion.’”
Order and Opinion here