A federal court has thwarted the Trump administration’s effort to deport Venezuelan immigrants under a roughly 225-year-old war powers law, ruling that individuals must receive hearings before their removal.
Judge James Boasberg on Monday rejected the government’s attempt to vacate restraining orders protecting Venezuelans accused of gang ties from deportation, instead insisting on due process for those contesting the allegations.
“The named Plaintiffs dispute they are members of Tren de Aragua; they may not be deported until a court decides the merits of their challenge,” Boasberg wrote.
The clash is rooted in Donald Trump’s 15 March proclamation invoking the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, which permits deportation of foreign nationals during wars or “invasions”. The administration claims activities of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua constitute such an invasion.
One of the deported alleged gang members is a 23-year-old gay makeup artist with no apparent gang affiliations, who was shipped to El Salvador’s notorious Cecot prison without a hearing alongside hundreds of Venezuelan men. His attorney, Lindsay Toczylowski, went on MSNBC last week and claimed he had “disappeared” despite having a scheduled immigration court appearance, after officials misinterpreted his tattoos as gang symbols.
According to Boasberg’s order, five Venezuelan immigrants had secured emergency relief – hours before the Trump administration said it would use the Alien Enemies Act – fearing immediate deportation without a chance to contest their alleged gang membership. Several of the migrants who filed the lawsuit argue they actually fled Venezuela to escape the gang.
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Trump has called Boasberg, an Obama-appointed judge, a “radical left lunatic” and called for his impeachment, prompting the supreme court chief justice, John Roberts, to issue a rare rebuke.
Boasberg explained on Monday that his orders do not block normal immigration enforcement, noting the administration had already designated Tren de Aragua a foreign terrorist organization, allowing deportations through standard channels.
Boasberg’s latest ruling comes ahead of arguments scheduled for later on Monday in the DC circuit court of appeals, where lawyers for the president will ask to lift Boasberg’s ruling that blocked the Trump administration’s use of the act.
If the appeals court rules in their favor, that could give a free hand for the Trump administration to use it to deport any immigrant it accuses of being a gang member without the standard due process owed to accused persons in the US.
