venezuelan gangs Tren de Aragua prison el salvador
© ReutersTrump invoked the Alien Enemies Act for the first time since World War II last month in an effort to quickly deport alleged Tren de Aragua members to a mega-prison in El Salvador.
The Trump administration will be allowed to resume deporting suspected Venezuelan gangbangers under the 1798 Alien Enemies Act after the Supreme Court on Monday lifted a lower court order that blocked the deportations.

In a 5-4 decision, the high court ruled that the Trump administration was "likely to succeed on the merits" in a lawsuit filed in a Washington, DC, district court challenging the removal of five Venezuelan men under the centuries-old law.

"The detainees are confined in Texas, so venue is improper in the District of Columbia," read the conservative majority opinion.

The court also determined that anyone the Trump administration is seeking to deport under the Alien Enemies Act must be afforded notice "within a reasonable time and in such a manner as will allow them to actually seek [a court hearing] in the proper venue before such removal occurs."

"For all the rhetoric of the dissents, today's order and per curiam confirm that the detainees subject to removal orders under the AEA are entitled to notice and an opportunity to challenge their removal," the opinion continued. "The only question is which court will resolve that challenge."


Comment: Why does the court keep skating past the original issue? Migrants that come into the country illegally have, by definition, broken the law. They are subject to removal. Invoking the Alien Enemies Act seems the only way around the legal impediments created by the activist courts.

Why on earth do they want to keep these people in the country anyway?


DC District Court Chief Judge James Boasberg had blocked President Trump from invoking the rarely used wartime law last month, and later extended his temporary restraining order until at least April 12.

The Trump administration filed an emergency request with the Supreme Court to review Boasberg's pause on March 28, after a divided three-judge panel on the DC Circuit Court of Appeals rejected a request to lift the stay as litigation plays out.

Trump invoked the Alien Enemies Act for the first time since World War II last month in an effort to quickly deport alleged Tren de Aragua members to a mega-prison in El Salvador.

The Supreme Court on Monday lifted a lower court order that blocked the deportations. AFP via Getty Images

Trump, 78, considers the gang an invading force, whose presence in the US grew under the Biden administration's lax immigration and border policies.

"The Supreme Court has upheld the Rule of Law in our Nation by allowing a President, whoever that may be, to be able to secure our Borders, and protect our families and our Country, itself," Trump wrote on Truth Social, reacting to the ruling.

"A GREAT DAY FOR JUSTICE IN AMERICA!" the president added.

The three liberal justices on the Supreme Court pointed to the Trump administration's apparent efforts to defy Boasberg's initial order and to fly alleged migrant gang members out of the country before the March 15 DC court hearing that resulted in the temporary restraining order in ruling against lifting it.

Justice Sonya Sotomayor slammed the majority for writing an opinion "without mention of the grave harm Plaintiffs will face if they are erroneously removed to El Salvador or regard for the Government's attempts to subvert the judicial process throughout this litigation."

"Because the Court should not reward the Government's efforts to erode the rule of law with discretionary equitable relief, I respectfully Dissent," she wrote.

"Congress requires the President to 'mak[e] public proclamation' of his intention to invoke the Alien Enemies Act," Sotomayor continued. "President Trump did just the opposite. In what can be understood only as covert preparation to skirt both the requirements of the Act and the Constitution's guarantee of due process."

"The Government's plan, it appeared, was to rush plaintiffs out of the country before a court could decide whether the President's invocation of the Alien Enemies Act was lawful or whether these individuals were, in fact, members of Tren de Aragua."

Justice Amy Coney Barrett, an appointee of Trump, joined portions of the dissent.

In response to the landmark ruling, Attorney General Pam Bondi said that she, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and "border czar" Tom Homan will "direct our assets to scour the country for any remnants of Tren De Aragua and DEPORT THEM."

"Tonight's decision is a landmark victory for the rule of law," Bondi added. "An activist judge in Washington, DC does not have the jurisdiction to seize control of President Trump's authority to conduct foreign policy and keep the American people safe."

"The Department of Justice will continue fighting in court to make America safe again."

Noem warned, "It is a bad day to be a terrorist and criminal alien in the United States of America," describing the ruling as a "victory for commonsense security."

"We will continue to enforce our immigration laws and restore sanity to our immigration system by using all appropriate authorities, including the Alien Enemies Act. Thank you President [Trump] for your leadership," the DHS secretary added.

The Trump administration has been sending suspected migrant gang members to El Salvador's notoriously hellish Terrorist Confinement Center prison.