US District Judge Fernando Rodriguez of the Southern District of Texas has ruled that Trump unlawfully invoked the Alien Enemies Act to speed up the deportation of alleged members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua within his district.
Rodriguez’s ruling is the first to conclude that Trump exceeded his authority by relying on a law that was intended to be used during times when the country is at war.
His decision means Trump cannot rely on the law to detain or deport any alleged members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua within his district.
“Allowing the President to unilaterally define the conditions when he may invoke the AEA, and then summarily declare that those conditions exist, would remove all limitations to the Executive Branch’s authority under the AEA, and would strip the courts of their traditional role of interpreting Congressional statutes to determine whether a government official has exceeded the statute’s scope. The law does not support such a position.”
Several courts, including the Supreme Court, have seen challenges to Trump’s lawless acts and have acted to stop the continuation of the process, but the Texas judge’s ruling is the first to conclude that the president exceeded his authority, deciding the case on its merits.
Judge Rodriguez says other immigration laws governing deportations could still be used, while Venezuelans are still being held in a facility in south Texas.
We can expect the misadministration to appeal the ruling to the conservative 5th US Circuit Court of Appeals, and it’s possible the case could eventually land before the Supreme Court.
