A federal judge ruled Tuesday that President Trump can invoke the Alien Enemies Act (AEA) to deport members of Tren de Aragua but found that the administration had not provided adequate notice prior to carrying out the deportations. U.S. District Judge Stephanie Haines’ decision contrasts with rulings from several other federal judges who have found that Trump illegally invoked the wartime statute.
Haines, a Trump appointee, determined that the president is within his rights to deport members of a foreign terrorist organization, a designation he has applied to Tren de Aragua and the MS-13 gang, The Hill reported. The judge emphasized her “unflagging obligation is to apply the law as written.”
“Having done its job, the Court now leaves it to the Political Branches of the government, and ultimately to the people who elect those individuals, to decide whether the laws and those executing them continue to reflect their will,” Haines noted in her 43-page ruling. The new division comes as the American Civil Liberties Union, which has filed numerous lawsuits nationwide challenging Trump’s use of the AEA, urges the Supreme Court to take up the issue immediately and provide a swift, nationwide resolution.
The 1798 law allows authorities to deport migrants quickly in the event of an “invasion” or “predatory incursion” by a foreign nation. While the law has been invoked three times before, all during times of war, Trump has sought to apply it against alleged Venezuelan gang members. Designating the members as terrorists, however, opens up another avenue of national security authorities that Congress has granted presidents. Within hours of invoking the law in mid-March, the administration used it to deport more than 100 migrants to a Salvadoran megaprison.
Haines stated that she was not addressing whether the president can use the law to remove gang members—one of several significant legal questions she deliberately avoided. However, by focusing on Trump’s authority to apply the AEA against foreign terrorist organizations, her ruling placed her in conflict with several other judges who have considered the issue, The Hill noted, adding: “Judges in three other jurisdictions have found Trump does not have the power to use the AEA to target gang members, saying the law was not meant to be used outside of an invasion or incursion.”
