A federal judge on Saturday preemptively blocked the Trump administration’s reported efforts to quickly deport five Venezuelan nationals under the Alien Enemies Act (AEA) of 1798.
The move from U.S. District Judge James Boasberg came just a few hours after the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed a motion against President Trump’s reported plan to invoke the AEA to accelerate the removal of undocumented immigrants from the U.S.
The civil rights group, representing five individuals in immigration custody, asked the federal judge to block the use of the law, although Trump himself has yet to invoke it.
The federal judge granted the restraining order on Saturday, ruling that the administration can’t remove the five plaintiffs for two weeks so the judge can first hold a hearing on their challenge.
A remote hearing has been scheduled for 5 p.m. Saturday where the ACLU will ask the judge to broaden the order to everyone potentially affected by the AEA.
The ruling comes after multiple news outlets reported Thursday that the president was expecting to invoke the wartime law in the coming days to give himself the broad authority to oust undocumented immigrants with little due process.
In its filing, the ACLU, alongside Democracy Forward and the ACLU of the District of Columbia, stated the government has moved the plaintiffs, which it claims are part of Tren De Agua, to facilities in Texas. The group argued the administration is using these facilities “as staging facilities to remove Venezuelan men under the AEA.”
In the court filing, the groups wrote that the five individuals “have compelling asylum claims—for instance, one fled Venezuela after he was beaten by police because his stepfather was a political dissident.”
Tren de Aragua, a transnational criminal group that is designated as a foreign terrorist organization by the U.S., is from Venezuela. It is believed to have over 5,000 members, and it is one of the primary targets of the current administration.
The AEA has been invoked three times previously, each time during an ongoing war: the War of 1812, World War 1, and World War 2, according to the Brennan Center for Justice.
“In World Wars I and II, the law was a key authority behind detentions, expulsions, and restrictions targeting German, Austro-Hungarian, Japanese, and Italian immigrants based solely on their ancestry,” the policy center wrote. “The law is best known for its role in Japanese internment, a shameful part of U.S. history for which Congress, presidents, and the courts have apologized.”
The Hill has reached out to the White House and Department of Homeland Security for comment.
