Trump cannot use Alien Enemies Act to deport Venezuelans he claims are gang members, court rules

 The Guardian - A federal appeals court has ruled that Donald Trump cannot use an 18th-century wartime law to speed up the deportations of people his administration accuses of being members of a Venezuelan gang.

The ruling late on Tuesday blocks a signature administration push that is likely to be destined for a final showdown at the US supreme court.

A three-judge panel of the fifth US circuit court of appeals, one of the most conservative federal appeals courts in the country, agreed with immigrant rights lawyers and lower court judges, who argued the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 was not intended to be used against gangs such as Tren de Aragua, the Venezuelan group Trump targeted in his March invocation.

Lee Gelernt, who argued the case for the American Civil Liberties Union, said: “The Trump administration’s use of a wartime statute during peacetime to regulate immigration was rightly shut down by the court. This is a critically important decision reining in the administration’s view that it can simply declare an emergency without any oversight by the courts.”