Federal judges in New York and Texas blocked the Trump administration from deporting suspected illegal alien gang members under 1798 Alien Enemies Act.
The blocks come after the Supreme Court lifted a block from U.S. District Judge James Boasberg and ruled that the Trump administration is allowed to use the wartime authority to deport illegal migrants suspected of being gang members from Tren de Aragua (TdA) or MS-13.
One case was “filed in Manhattan” by lawyers representing “two Venezuelan men” being detained in Orange County, New York, while another case in Texas “was brought on behalf of the same Venezuelans who challenged their potential deportation in Washington, D.C.,” according to CBS News.
Per the outlet, U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein “granted the temporary relief” in the New York case, while Southern District Judge Fernando Rodriguez Jr., who was appointed by President Donald Trump, “blocked the Trump administration from transferring or removing from the El Valle Detention Center the three Venezuelan men or any other Venezuelan citizen held in the Southern District of Texas who are subject to deportation”:
In one case filed in Manhattan, attorneys for two Venezuelan men who are currently being detained in Orange County, New York, successfully argued to block their clients’ deportations and movement outside of the state and the United States. U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein, appointed to the federal bench by President Clinton, granted the temporary relief.
In a court document, Rodriguez argued that the Supreme Court had “established that individuals detained under the Alien Enemies Act” must receive adequate notice “that they are subject to removal”:
The Supreme Court has established that individuals detained under the Alien Enemies Act “must receive notice . . . that they are subject to removal under the Act[,]” and the “notice must be afforded within a reasonable time ad in such a manner as will allow them to actually seek habeas relief in the proper venue before such removal occurs,” Trump v. J. G. G., 604 U.S. —, 2025 WL 1024097, at *2 (Apr.7, 2025). In the present matter, the Court finds that the removal of J.A.V, J.G.G., W.G.H., or any other individual subject to the Proclamation, by the United States would cause immediate and irreparable injury to the removed individuals, as they would be unable to seek habeas relief. See Nieto-Ramirez v. Holder, 583 F. App’x 330, 331 (5th Cir. 2014) (finding that habeas petition which challenged the denial of bond by the immigration judge was mooted by the detainee’s subsequent removal). Furthermore, if the United State erroneously removed an individual to another country based on the Proclamation, a substantial likelihood exists that the individual could not be returned to the United States. See Abrego Garcia v. Noem, No. 25 1345, 2025 WL 1021113m at *4 (4th Cir. Apr.7, 2025) (Thacker, J., concurring) (noting the United States’ argument that a district court lacks the jurisdiction to compel the Executive Branch to return an erroneously-removed alien to the United States).
Breitbart News’s Sean Moran previously reported that immigration activists had filed a lawsuit to block the Trump administration from using the Alien Enemies Act to deport suspected illegal alien gang members.
Trump invoked the Alien Enemies Act in March, in order to allow for the expedited removal of Venezuelan illegal migrants who are suspected to being members of gangs such as TdA or MS-13.
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