SC Temporarily Blocks Deportations Under Alien Enemies Act As Trump Administration Seeks Broader Authority

SC has temporarily blocked the Trump administration from deporting a group of immigrants in Texas using the Alien Enemies Act. The court will consider the issue further, despite dissenting opinions from Justices Thomas and Alito.

US President Donald Trump.

Source : PTI

In less than two weeks after the Supreme Court allowed US President Donald Trump to use a controversial 18th-century wartime authority to speed deportations, the issue has rocketed back to the justices in a second-fuse appeal with enormous potential consequences. The situation was entirely foreseeable.

The court directed the Trump administration not to remove the Venezuelans held in the Bluebonnet Detention Center “until further order of this court.”

Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito dissented.

In a rare overnight order handed down by the top court, a majority of the justices blocked the Trump administration from deporting a group of immigrants in Texas. Two conservatives — Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito — dissented from the decision.

According to a CNN report, the brief order by the court did not explain its reasoning. It ordered the Trump administration to respond to the emergency appeal “as soon as possible,” which it did later Saturday. The court, in the meantime, said, “The government is directed not to remove any member of the putative class of detainees from the United States until further order of this court.”

Later, the Trump administration responded, telling the court that it wants authority to remove the Venezuelans detained in Texas under laws other than the controversial Alien Enemies Act while the litigation over their potential deportations continues.

On Saturday, the White House trained its attention on the lawsuits rather than the court itself.

"President Trump promised the American people to use all lawful measures to remove the threat of terrorist illegal aliens,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said, as quoted by CNN.

According to the report, the White House has alleged that the people it has deported under the act are the members of the Venezuelan Tren de Aragua gang, but evidence proving as much has been scant.

Now, the ball is in the court of the Supreme Court. The justices, in their overnight order, have blocked the Trump administration from taking further action on the Texas detainees until it provides more clarity. According to CNN, it has ordered the Department of Justice to respond to the ACLU’s request “as soon as possible.”

The Justice Department did so on the Saturday evening arguing that the justices should deny the request to halt removals under the Alien Enemies Act.

“The government has agreed not to remove pursuant the AEA those AEA detainees who do file habeas claims,” wrote US Solicitor General D. John Sauer, the Trump administration’s top appellate attorney as quoted by CNN.

“This court should dissolve its current administrative stay and allow the lower courts to address the relevant legal and factual questions in the first instance — including the development of a proper factual record.”

In other words, Sauer, has argued that the case had moved too quicky for the lower courts to establish facts.

The Trump administration told the high court that it wants clarity that it may remove at least some of the same migrants under less controversial immigration laws. The order by the Supreme Court did not distinguish between the deportations under the Alien Enemies Act and other laws that require normal due process before removing the people from the country.