U.S. Supreme Court Building. Image by WASHINGTON — The Trump administration on Friday asked the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene in a legal battle over the use of the Alien Enemies Act, seeking to reinstate deportation flights for alleged Venezuelan gang members.
The emergency request follows a federal appeals court ruling that upheld a block on the controversial deportation program.
The Trump administration argues that the decades-old law, enacted in 1798, grants the government authority to remove individuals deemed threats during times of conflict.
Officials say the policy is necessary to combat transnational crime, while critics contend it violates due process protections and unfairly targets immigrants without sufficient legal justification.
The Trump administration removed over 200 Venezuelans without due process using the Alien Enemies Act. Officials sent these individuals to El Salvador, where Salvadoran authorities are holding them at the CECOT prison.
The request comes after the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against the administration earlier this month, siding with advocacy groups that challenged the legality of the removals.
If the Supreme Court takes up the case, it could set a precedent for how far the government can go in using wartime-era statutes for immigration enforcement.
Lee Gelernt, deputy director of the ACLU’s immigrants’ rights project and lead counsel in the case, urged the Supreme Court to preserve the federal appeals court ruling.
We will urge theSupreme Courtt to preserve the status quo to give the courts time to hear this case, so that more individuals are not sent off to a notorious foreign prison without any process, based on an unprecedented and unlawful use of a wartime authority. Lee Gelernt.
The debate over immigrants housed at the CECOT jail revolves around the fact that many of them have no criminal records, which raises questions regarding due process breaches and the treatment of people free from criminal accusations.
In the first few months of his presidency, the Trump administration faced legal challenges from lower courts that blocked several of his executive orders. These rulings have halted key policy initiatives, leading the administration to appeal decisions in higher courts.
