Right Minister of Justice and Public Security Villero, right will accompany the Department of Homeland Security Christie Noem on March 26, 2025, during a tour of the Terrorist Confinement Centre or CECOT in Tecolca, El Salvador. (Photo: Alex Brandon-Pool/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON – Federal judges in Texas and New York have temporarily suspended the use of the Trump administration in the 1798 Alien Enemy Act in parts of two states set up for water deportation.
The US Civil Liberties Union filed cases in the Southern District of New York and the Southern District of Texas. After the US Supreme Court this week ruled that wartime law challenges must be brought to the site of President Donald Trump’s declaration on the use of law. Previous incidents were discussed in the District of Columbia.
That Monday decision from the High Court It was lifted Lower Court Order The Trump administration has been banned From a call to wartime law, in order to deport Venezuelan citizens over the age of 14, who are suspected of gang members, the judge also unanimously said Venezuelans must be allowed to hear the court.
Texas Judge Fernando Rodriguez Jr. issued a temporary restraining order to prevent the deportation of Venezuelans across Texas under alien enemy law.
Restraint Order Rodriguez Jr. will be in place until April 23rd. The three Venezuelan men also say they cannot be ruled out from Elbale Detention Center, the same center that the Trump administration transferred to wartime law on March 15 and placed on planes in El Salvador’s infamous giant prison.
New York Order
A temporary restraining order from New York State Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein, which he is due to sign on Wednesday, will cover Venezuelans in the southern district of New York, According to the Associated Press. This includes New York City, the Borough of Manhattan, the Bronx and Dutchess, Orange, Putnam, Rockland, Sullivan and Westchester counties.
Two Venezuelans filed a lawsuit in the Southern District of New York.
Appointed by former President Bill Clinton, Hellerstein will hold an April 22 hearing to determine whether the temporary restraining order will be a provisional injunction. The ACLU also seeks class certification.
The Supreme Court said this week that it would allow the Trump administration to use alien enemies, but those subjects of the declaration must be allowed to pose a challenge in court.
The first lawsuit against the Trump administration’s use of alien enemy law comes from five men detained in Texas. The judge argued that the appropriate court venue should be in Texas custody, not in front of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
More than 238 Venezuelans have been deported to brutal prisons.
The Marylander case was quoted
Judge Rodriguez Jr., appointed by President Donald Trump in 2017, issued a temporary restraining order, noted that anyone who was mistakenly deported under the alien enemy law cannot be returned to the United States.
In his reasoning, he cited the Trump administration’s stance in a prominent case in which a Maryland man was sent to a prison in El Salvador By mistake.
The Trump administration has called on the Supreme Court to break down the lower court order to ensure that authorities return Kilmer Armando Abrego Garcia of Bertlesville, Maryland. Supreme Court on Monday The deadline has been temporarily suspended Until the High Court can make a full decision.
“In addition, there is a substantial possibility that an individual will not be able to return to the United States if the United States accidentally deletes an individual to another country based on a declaration,” writes Rodriguez Jr.
A hearing in US District Court for the Southern District of Texas in the Brownsville Division is set centrally at 1:30pm Friday.
“The court will consider whether to extend the temporary restraining order or issue other forms of emergency relief,” Rodriguez said of the upcoming Friday hearing.
