Immigration, judicial stop on Trump: ‘Can’t use Alien Enemies Act to deport Venezuelans’

A federal judge in Texas, appointed by Trump himself, blocks the deportation plan: ‘War rule of 1798 cannot justify summary deportations’

Setback for President Donald Trump on the immigration front. A federal judge in Texas, Fernando Rodriguez Jr. issued a permanent order prohibiting the administration from using the Alien Enemies Act, a law dating back to 1798, to deport more than 130 Venezuelan nationals detained and found to be criminals to a prison facility in El Salvador.

The ruling represents the broadest rejection to date among those issued by the eight federal courts called upon to assess the legitimacy of the use of the historic statute, which allows the president to act against foreign nationals in the event of war or invasion. According to the judge, appointed by Trump himself, the application of the measure ‘is inconsistent with modern constitutional principles’. In the absence of evidence of an actual invasion or external threat, the government should have followed the procedures of the Immigration and Nationality Act, which requires a regular process with a hearing for any deportation.

‘The law does not allow the president to summarily declare that a foreign government poses a threat and then detain or deport its citizens en masse,’ Rodriguez wrote in the 36-page ruling. The ruling concerns Venezuelans detained in the southern district of Texas, but could affect the administration’s entire migration strategy.

The decision comes just days after Trump’s scathing attack on the judiciary. During a rally in Warren, Michigan, the president accused left-wing judges of ‘trying to obstruct the enforcement of the laws’. ‘They are trying to take away the president’s power to protect the country. But no one will stop my mission to restore security to America,’ he said.

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