McALLEN, Texas (AP) — Judges in Texas and New York on Wednesday temporarily barred the U.S. government from deporting Venezuelans jailed in parts of those two states while their lawyers challenge the Trump administration’s use of a rarely invoked law letting presidents imprison noncitizens or expel them from the country in times of war.
The pair of rulings didn't address the legality of President Donald Trump's use of the Alien Enemies Act to deport Venezuelans accused of belonging to the Tren de Aragua gang, and they only applied to immigrants in federal custody in the judges’ judicial districts.
The judicial moves were the first to occur after the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday ruled the administration can resume deportations under the act, but deportees must be afforded some due process before they are flown away, including reasonable time to argue to a judge that they should not be deported.
Civil rights lawyers in the two states had sued to prevent the government from deporting five men who deny being part of the Tren de Aragua gang.
Similar legal challenges are likely to follow in other places where Venezuelans have been detained. The American Civil Liberties Union is asking the judges in Texas and New York to decide whether the administration's use of the Alien Enemies Act is lawful when the country is not at war.
The Alien Enemies Act has only been used three times in the past, during the War of 1812, World War I and World War II, when it was used to justify the mass internment of people of Japanese heritage while the U.S. was at war with Japan.
The United States is not at war with Venezuela, but Trump has argued the U.S. is being invaded by members of the Tren de Aragua gang.
U.S. immigration authorities already have deported more than 100 people and sent them to a notorious prison in El Salvador without letting them challenge their removals in court.
Civil liberties lawyers brought lawsuits on behalf of three men detained in a facility in Texas and two jailed about 45 miles (72 kilometers) northwest of New York City.
Judge Fernando Rodriguez Jr. signed a temporary restraining order in the morning that applies to people locked up at the El Valle Detention Center in Raymondville, Texas. Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein signed a similar order in New York in the early evening that applies across the Southern District of New York, which includes the New York City boroughs of Manhattan and the Bronx, and six counties north of the city.
In Texas, the three plaintiffs include a man who is HIV positive and fears losing access to medical care if deported.
The men were identified as gang members by physical attributes using the “Alien Enemy Validation Guide,” in which an ICE agent tallies points by relying on tattoos, hand gestures, symbols, logos, graffiti, and manner of dress, according to the ACLU. Experts who study the gang have told the ACLU the method is not reliable.
The lawsuits sought class action status to apply to others who are detained and face similar deportation.
In a hearing in the New York case, Deputy Attorney General Drew Ensign opposed a temporary order blocking deportations. Ensign told Hellerstein that there were “only a handful” of Venezuelans, probably less than 10, detained in New York's Southern District.
When Hellerstein said 10 individuals would be enough to make up a class, Ensign said: “We disagree.”
ACLU attorney Lee Gelernt said after the hearing that the civil rights group was still hoping to get a nationwide injunction so lawyers don’t have to file cases challenging the law in 96 different federal judicial districts.
The Trump administration plans to expand its use for members of the Salvadoran gang MS-13, Todd Lyons, acting Immigration and Customs Enforcement director, told reporters Tuesday during Border Security Expo, a trade show in Phoenix.
Neumeister reported from New York.
An earlier version of this report incorrectly stated the New York hearing was happening Tuesday morning instead of Wednesday morning.
FILE - Venezuelan migrants board a plane heading back to their home country from Harlingen, Texas, on Wednesday, Oct. 18, 2023. (AP Photo/Valerie Gonzalez, File)
