US judge says Trump can use Alien Enemies Act for deportations

PENNSYLVANIA - A federal judge in Pennsylvania ruled on May 13 that the US can use the Alien Enemies Act to fast-track the deportation of accused Venezuelan gang members, in what appears to be the first court ruling that backs the Trump administration’s interpretation of the 1798 law.

Judge Stephanie Haines, of the US District for the Western District of Pennsylvania, ruled that US President Donald Trump has authority to declare the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua a foreign terrorist organisation and deport its members under the Alien Enemies Act, but she criticised the administration’s practice of deporting people sometimes “within a matter of hours”.

Judge Haines, appointed by Mr Trump during his first term, ruled that the administration must give potential deportees at least 21 days’ notice and the opportunity to challenge their removals, to avoid the possibility that people who are not gang members “may be errantly removed from this country”.     

She made the ruling in court papers in the case of a Venezuelan man identified as A.S.R. Judge Haines did not rule whether A.S.R. was a member of the gang, but she said people like him must be given more opportunity to challenge their deportations.

Judge Haines required the government to provide notice in Spanish and English, and to provide interpreters when necessary.

Mr Lee Gelernt, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union who is representing A.S.R., said he would appeal against the ruling.

“We strongly disagree with the Court’s decision to allow the government to continue using this wartime authority during peacetime, and will appeal that aspect of the decision,” Mr Gelernt said.

Judge Haines’ ruling is contrary to other federal courts’ decisions on the Trump administration’s interpretation of the Alien Enemies Act, which the President invoked in March as legal justification for deporting hundreds of men whom his administration accused of being Tren de Aragua members.

Federal judges in New York, Colorado and Texas have ruled against Mr Trump’s use of the law to deport Venezuelans.

Judge Haines, in her ruling, noted that her district has jurisdiction over the petition filed by A.S.R., even though he was transferred from an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility in Philipsburg, Pennsylvania, on April 15 to an ICE detention centre in Texas, despite a temporary restraining order issued that day barring his transfer from the Western District of Pennsylvania.

The Trump administration has deported alleged gang members to a prison in El Salvador under an arrangement in which the US is paying the Central American nation US$6 million (S$7.8 million). It is part of Mr Trump’s hardline approach toward immigration.

The White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment. REUTERS