A federal judge on Thursday permanently banned the Trump administration from invoking the Alien Enemy Act of 18th-century wartime law to expel Venezuelans, deemed a criminal in southern Texas, saying the White House’s use of the provision was illegal.
Judge Fernando Rodriguez Jr.'s decision is by far the most extensive ruling among many jurists who are currently hearing the White House's efforts to adopt a challenge from a strong but few invoked law as part of its broad deportation program.
The philosophy of Trump's appointment of President Rodriguez's ruling rejected the White House's philosophical rejection of the Alien Enemies Act, which was passed in 1798. The nascent United States was threatened by the war with France and became the backdrop of modern immigration policies.
The Supreme Court has said the White House hopes that any Venezuelan who expels the bill under Mr. Trump’s announcement must have a chance to challenge their removal. But Judge Rodriguez's ruling went further, saying the White House improperly extended the meaning of the law, which could have been used only against hostile foreign members during the declaration of a war or a military invasion.
Judge Rodriguez's ruling only applies to Venezuelan immigrants in southern Texas (including Houston, Brownsville and Laredo) and it may have an impact, if not binding, on other cases involving the government's use of the Foreign Enemy Act bill.
Judge Rodriguez wrote: “The court concluded that, as a law, the administration cannot, based on the declaration of relying on the AEA to detain designated petitioners and certified classes, or to remove them from the country.”
He also found that the “ordinary meanings” of the bill’s language, such as “invasion” and “predatory invasion”, referenced the attacks of “military forces” and did not relate to Mr. Trump’s claims about the activities of street gangs in Venezuela, a declaration that proclaimed the Arian enemy Act.
The American Civil Liberties Union has filed at least eight lawsuits so far, challenging regulations in Texas, New York, Colorado, Pennsylvania, Nevada, Washington and Georgia. The federal judge in six of the cases has issued an interim order to prevent the government from using the government to expel Venezuelans who are accused of belonging to Tren de Aragua.
In the case, Lee Gelernt, chief attorney for the American International Society, praised Judge Rodriguez's ruling.
“This decision is right to recognize that the president cannot simply declare an invasion and invoke wartime authorities in peacetime,” Gelent said. “As the court acknowledged, Congress never intended to use the law in this way.”
The White House did not immediately respond to news seeking comments.
Judge Rodriguez rejected a Department of Justice’s argument early in the ruling that he lacked the authority to consider the White House’s use of the bill, which was used only three times in U.S. history: during the War of 1812 and during World War II.
Department lawyers have always insisted that even judges do not have the power to invade the president's decision on foreign policy. Judge Rodriguez acknowledged that the Foreign Enemy Act gave the president “broad powers” but also said the judge still has the ability to determine whether the president uses the law correctly.
“The court reserves the power to determine the provisions of the AEA and to determine whether the basis of the announcement is appropriately invoked by regulations,” he wrote.
However, it is worth noting that the judge rejected the power to examine the truth of Mr. Trump’s basic statements, including his assertion that Tren de Aragua is controlled by the Venezuelan government, a statement that the U.S. intelligence agency disagrees. The judge said that since such an assessment was to determine the political branch, he had to accept Mr. Trump's findings.
However, Judge Rodriguez determined that Trump's use of the law does not meet the definition of key provisions in the law. For example, he rejected the president's claim that the arrival of a large number of Tren de Aragua members to the United States could be interpreted as an invasion or a “predatory invasion” as referred to by the Act.
“For most of the records, the use of 'invasion' and 'predatory invasion' involves military attacks,” Judge Rodriguez wrote. He added that the terms “refer to the entry of organized, armed forces into the United States, engaged in destructive and human life in a particular geographical area.”
Judge Rodriguez, 56, is the first Latino to be nominated as a federal judge during his first term. He is a partner at Baker Botts, a powerful Houston law firm, who has worked in Latin America for many years with international judicial missions, an evangelical Christian group fighting human trafficking.
Judge Rodriguez's order applies to a class of plaintiffs. This means that unless Thursday's ruling is overturned in appeal, the government will be prohibited from using Trump to invoke the Alien Enemy Act to detain or remove anyone in his area.
Although the American Civil Liberties Union has largely managed to prevent the Trump administration from continuing to expel people under the bill, it has not yet been able to bring nearly 140 Venezuelans back to the United States, who were legally removed from El Salvador on March 15.
These people remain in a notorious prison and are imprisoned in a notorious prison called the terrorist lockdown center or Secot.
Last week, attorneys for the American Civil Liberties Union asked Chief Justice of Washington, Judge James E. Boasberg, to order the government to return the people to U.S. land so that if they are not driven out of the country, they can get the due process they will receive.
Attorneys seeking to convince Justice Boasberg that he has the right to tell the White House to bring the people back, and the lawyer cited the Supreme Court ruling that another immigrant was deported to El Salvador by Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia.
In the decision, the Justice said the White House needed to “promote” the release of Mr. Abreg Garcia, whom Trump officials repeatedly acknowledged that the official was mistakenly sent to El Salvador to take three planes carrying Venezuelans.
By the end of Thursday, the Justice Department is expected to file court documents against the ACLU's request to bring the people back to El Salvador.
