Courts and Trump

Washington Post -   A federal judge on Tuesday barred the Trump administration from using the Alien Enemies Act to deport Venezuelan immigrants without a hearing, saying the White House has failed to prove the existence of an “invasion” or another conflict that would justify invoking the centuries-old law.

U.S. District Court Judge Alvin Hellerstein’s ruling halts the removal of immigrants being detained in his court’s jurisdiction in New York. The judge said such rulings are all that stops the administration from sending more Venezuelan immigrants to the Terrorism Confinement Center in El Salvador “where they would endure abuse and inhumane treatment with no recourse to bring them back.”

Shortlysts  - A federal appeals court has dealt another blow to the Trump administration in its bid to revoke deportation protections for more than half a million migrants.

The Boston-based 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals declined to put on hold a judge's order that halted the Department of Homeland Security's efforts to end the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) program.

In its three-page decision, the court ruled Monday that Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem 'has not at this point made a strong showing that her categorical termination of plaintiffs' parole is likely to be sustained on appeal.'

The Trump administration tried arguing that Noem had the discretion to end the migrants' status after a Massachusetts judge previously ruled that the migrants could remain.

In her 41-page ruling, U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani temporarily blocked the administration from removing the legal status of over 530,000 Venezuelan, Cuban, Nicaraguan, and Haitian nationals under the Biden-era program.