Federal judges in Colorado and California are hearing arguments Monday over the Trump administration’s deportation policies as government officials press to remove accused migrant gang members.
In Colorado, a federal judge will weigh arguments over a temporary order the judge issued that bars the Trump administration from removing any noncitizens from Colorado under the Alien Enemies Act, an 18th century wartime authority used to remove noncitizens with little-to-no due process.
A federal judge in San Francisco will consider next steps after that judge last month put a temporary pause on the Trump administration’s plans to end legal protections and benefits for up to 350,000 Venezuelan migrants.
The hearing comes after an appeals court on Friday denied the Trump administration’s effort to block that pause.
The Trump administration last month touched off a legal battle when it invoked the AEA to deport two planeloads of alleged migrant gang members to the CECOT mega-prison in El Salvador by arguing that the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua is a “hybrid criminal state” that is invading the United States.
An official with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement acknowledged that “many” of the men lack criminal records in the United States — but said that “the lack of specific information about each individual actually highlights the risk they pose” and “demonstrates that they are terrorists with regard to whom we lack a complete profile.”
The migrants were sent to CECOT as part of a $6 million deal the Trump administration made with Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele for El Salvador to house migrant detainees as part of President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown.
In a post on social media on Sunday, Bukele proposed repatriating the 252 Venezuelans deported from the U.S. in exchange for the release of an equal number of “political prisoners” from Venezuela.
“I want to propose a humanitarian agreement that includes the repatriation of 100% of the 252 Venezuelans who were deported, in exchange for the release and surrender of an identical number (252) of the thousands of political prisoners you hold,” Bukele wrote to Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on X in Spanish.
Last week, Venezuelan Minister of Interior Relations Diosdado Cabello claimed that the Venezuelan government has “proved” that none of the Venezuelan migrants the Trump administration deported to El Salvador are members of Tren de Aragua.
The Trump administration did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The U.S. Supreme Court, in ruling over the weekend, blocked the AEA deportations of Venezuelan migrants being held in northern Texas after attorneys for the men said the accused gang members were about to be deported without due process.
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