US appeals court blocks Trump use of Alien Enemies Act in deportation drive

"A federal appeals court has ruled that the administration of United States President Donald Trump illegally invoked a wartime law to deport Venezuelans as part of its immigration crackdown. Late on Tuesday, a majority on the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals rejected Trump's use of the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to expedite deportations without due process. The decision was remarkable on several fronts."

"We conclude that the findings do not support that an invasion or a predatory incursion has occurred, Southwick wrote. We therefore conclude that petitioners are likely to prove that the AEA [Alien Enemies Act] was improperly invoked. The Alien Enemies Act has the power to give the government wide-ranging powers to detain and deport citizens of hostile foreign nations, but only in times of war or during an invasion or predatory incursion."

"It was the first time a federal appellate court had weighed Trump's use of the 18th-century law, but it was also a strong rebuke to Trump's mass deportation campaign from a court with a reputation for leaning conservative. Writing for the majority on the three-person bench, Judge Leslie Southwick rejected Trump's claim that the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua represented an invasion into the US. There is no finding that this mass immigration was an armed, organized force or forces, Southwick wrote."

A federal appeals court held that the Trump administration illegally invoked the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to deport Venezuelan migrants. The Fifth Circuit majority found insufficient evidence that the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua constituted an invasion, predatory incursion, or armed organized force, and concluded petitioners are likely to prove the AEA was improperly invoked. The AEA grants broad detention and deportation powers only during war or an invasion; before the Trump administration the law had been used only three times and exclusively during war. The decision marks the first federal appellate rejection of using the AEA to expedite mass deportations.

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