A federal judge on Thursday stopped the Trump administration from using 18th-century law to send alleged gang rape in Venezuela in South Texas, and found that calling the president of the alien enemy law was “illegal.”
In the most powerful ruling for the administration's previous use of the 1798 law, President Trump's appointee, District Judge Fernando Rodriguez, issued a permanent injunction to the application of the immigration law detained in the Southern District of Texas.
The Trump administration's use of alien enemies has expelled the laws quickly to expel Tren de Aragua members against El Salvador's MegaPrison.
“The call to the president of the AEA by a declaration is beyond the scope of the law and, as a result, is illegal,” writes Rodriguez.
The Brownsville-based judge determined that Tren de Aragua's activities in the United States, which had been booming under the Biden administration, had not reached a “aggression” or “predatory invasion,” as Trump declared in mid-March when he evoked the law.
“By unilaterally defining conditions when the president can invoke the AEA and allowing them to immediately declare that those conditions exist, it removes all restrictions on the authority of the administrative department under the AEA, and excludes the traditional role of interpreting parliamentary laws to determine whether government officials have exceeded the scope of the law.
Trump's use of alien enemy law has been sued in several courts, including the Supreme Court, but Rodriguez is the first judge to block it in merit forever.
The White House condemned the ruling, saying it believes Trump will “finally win” in his efforts to rapidly deport Venezuela's gang rape.
“The Southern District of Texas ruling is undoubtedly shocking the more than 77 million Americans who gave President Trump a decisive Election Day mission to enforce our immigration laws and enforce illegal terrorist aliens.
“The Trump administration is committed to using all levers entrusted to the executive branch by the Constitution and Congress to fulfill this mission. We are confident that we will ultimately win for the American people,” added Desai.
The American Civil Liberties Union, which filed a lawsuit to stop the removal of immigrants, congratulating the ruling.
“The court ruled that the president could not unilaterally declare an aggression on the United States and invoke wartime authority during peace. Congress never intended this 18th century wartime law to use it in this way.
Since the law was called on March 15th, at least 137 Venezuelan gang members have been deported to El Salvador from the Elval Detention Center in Raymondville, Texas. Reuters.
Trump designated Tren de Aragua as a foreign terrorist organization early in his second term.
