Judge Blocks Deportation of Venezuelans from South Texas via Alien Enemies Act

Federal District Court Judge Fernando Rodriguez, Jr. issued a permanent ruling that Donald Trump cannot use the Alien Enemies Act to detain and deport from South Texas immigrants who came from Venezuela.

Among all the cases against such detentions and deportations, this is the first ruling which declares it is unlawful to use the AEA against alleged gang members supposedly invading the USA. Rodriguez ruled that such use “exceeds the scope of the statute and is contrary to the plain, ordinary meaning of the statute’s terms.” Therefore, the government does not “possess the lawful authority under the AEA, and based on the Proclamation, to detain Venezuelan aliens, transfer them within the United States, or remove them from the country.”

The ruling covers the Southern District of Texas which encompasses Brownsville at its southern tip, Houston to the east and McAllen to the west.

The ruling stands in contrast to a ruling by the Supreme Court in a separate case which allows deportation of people accused of association with Tren de Aragua under the Alien Enemies Act, so long as the targeted immigrants get notice with “reasonable time” (which the Court did not define) to file a legal challenge.

Plaintiffs have been accused of being members of or associated with the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua and are threatened with imminent removal under the Alien Enemies Act. They are being detained at El Valle Detention Center in Raymondville, Texas.

Rodriguez concluded that when the Alien Enemies Act was enacted in 1798, the ordinary meaning of “invasion” or “predatory incursion” involved a military incursion. While the criminal activities of Tren de Aragua described in Trump’s executive order cause harm, they are not an “invasion” or “predatory incursion” in terms of the AEA.

He wrote:

The Proclamation makes no reference to and in no manner suggests that a threat exists of an organized, armed group of individuals entering the United States at the direction of Venezuela to conquer the country or assume control over a portion of the nation.

Thus, while the Court finds that an “invasion” or “predatory incursion” must involve an organized, armed force entering the United States to engage in conduct destructive of property and human life in a specific geographical area, the action need not be a precursor to actual war.

Trump may appeal to the famously conservative 5th Circuit Court of Appeals, and the case could go to the Supreme Court from there.

Rodriguez was appointed by Trump during his first term.

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