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Yahoo
01-07-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Judges consider whether Trump can use wartime act against Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua
Immigration and administration lawyers on Monday battled over whether President Donald Trump can use an 18th century wartime act against a Venezuelan gang in a case that is likely to ultimately be decided by the U.S. Supreme Court. The attorneys sparred before a three-judge panel of the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans, the latest step in a tangled legal battle over Trump's March invocation of the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 against the Tren de Aragua gang. The law has only previously been used during World Wars I and II and the War of 1812. ACLU attorney Lee Gelernt told the three-judge panel that Trump's use of it is inappropriate. 'This has only been invoked three times in major, major wars, and now it's being invoked in connection with a gang,' Gelernt said. Deputy Assistant Attorney General Drew Ensign, arguing for the administration, said that courts cannot second-guess a president's determination that the U.S. faces a threat from abroad and requires extraordinary measures to protect itself. He noted that the only time the high court weighed in on the act was in a case that dates from after fighting in Europe ended in World War II, when the court said it could not second-guess then-President Harry Truman's assertion that suspected Nazis should still be held under the act because the war was still continuing. 'The president is due the utmost deference' in matters of foreign affairs and security, Ensign said. Trump's invocation has already been twice before the nation's highest court on more technical issues. First, the court found that those accused of being TdA members deserved a 'reasonable' amount of time to challenge that designation in court, but that their deportations could only be challenged in the locations they were held. That eliminated a national bar against deportations under the act issued by a federal judge in Washington, who later found the administration possibly committed contempt when it disregarded his orders and continued to fly some held under the AEA to a prison in El Salvador. Then, after the ACLU and its allies began filing suits all around the country and winning rulings barring deportations under the measure, the high court stepped in a second time. In April it issued an unusual post-midnight ruling stopping the administration from deporting people from a slice of north Texas where there was yet no active ruling against removal. As multiple lower court judges found the AEA couldn't be used against a gang, the high court directed the 5th Circuit to consider the issue and how much time those held should have to challenge their designation. The government, which initially provided minimal notice, now says the standard should be seven days to file an appeal. The ACLU argued for 30 days, the amount of time given to suspected Nazis held during World War II. The panel that heard Monday's arguments was comprised of one judge appointed by Trump, one by former President George W. Bush and one by Biden. Whatever it rules can be appealed to either the entire 5th circuit — one of the most conservative federal appeals courts in the country — or directly to the high court. Trump has argued that TdA is acting at the behest of Venezuela's government. The Act allows its use to combat either an 'invasion' or a 'predatory incursion.' But the ACLU argues that the connection between the gang and the Venezuelan government is tangential at best, and that an assessment by 17 different intelligence agencies found little coordination between TdA and the government in Caracas. Gelernt contended that, by the standards laid out by the administration, the AEA could have been used against the mafia or any other criminal organization with tangential ties to other countries that has operated in the United States over the past 200 years.
Associated Press
30-06-2025
- Politics
- Associated Press
Judges consider whether Trump can use wartime act against Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua
Immigration and administration lawyers on Monday battled over whether President Donald Trump can use an 18th century wartime act against a Venezuelan gang in a case that is likely to ultimately be decided by the U.S. Supreme Court. The attorneys sparred before a three-judge panel of the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans, the latest step in a tangled legal battle over Trump's March invocation of the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 against the Tren de Aragua gang. The law has only previously been used during World Wars I and II and the War of 1812. ACLU attorney Lee Gelernt told the three-judge panel that Trump's use of it is inappropriate. 'This has only been invoked three times in major, major wars, and now it's being invoked in connection with a gang,' Gelernt said. Deputy Assistant Attorney General Drew Ensign, arguing for the administration, said that courts cannot second-guess a president's determination that the U.S. faces a threat from abroad and requires extraordinary measures to protect itself. He noted that the only time the high court weighed in on the act was in a case that dates from after fighting in Europe ended in World War II, when the court said it could not second-guess then-President Harry Truman's assertion that suspected Nazis should still be held under the act because the war was still continuing. 'The president is due the utmost deference' in matters of foreign affairs and security, Ensign said. Trump's invocation has already been twice before the nation's highest court on more technical issues. First, the court found that those accused of being TdA members deserved a 'reasonable' amount of time to challenge that designation in court, but that their deportations could only be challenged in the locations they were held. That eliminated a national bar against deportations under the act issued by a federal judge in Washington, who later found the administration possibly committed contempt when it disregarded his orders and continued to fly some held under the AEA to a prison in El Salvador. Then, after the ACLU and its allies began filing suits all around the country and winning rulings barring deportations under the measure, the high court stepped in a second time. In April it issued an unusual post-midnight ruling stopping the administration from deporting people from a slice of north Texas where there was yet no active ruling against removal. As multiple lower court judges found the AEA couldn't be used against a gang, the high court directed the 5th Circuit to consider the issue and how much time those held should have to challenge their designation. The government, which initially provided minimal notice, now says the standard should be seven days to file an appeal. The ACLU argued for 30 days, the amount of time given to suspected Nazis held during World War II. The panel that heard Monday's arguments was comprised of one judge appointed by Trump, one by former President George W. Bush and one by Biden. Whatever it rules can be appealed to either the entire 5th circuit — one of the most conservative federal appeals courts in the country — or directly to the high court. Trump has argued that TdA is acting at the behest of Venezuela's government. The Act allows its use to combat either an 'invasion' or a 'predatory incursion.' But the ACLU argues that the connection between the gang and the Venezuelan government is tangential at best, and that an assessment by 17 different intelligence agencies found little coordination between TdA and the government in Caracas. Gelernt contended that, by the standards laid out by the administration, the AEA could have been used against the mafia or any other criminal organization with tangential ties to other countries that has operated in the United States over the past 200 years.
Japan Times
19-04-2025
- Politics
- Japan Times
Venezuelan migrants ask U.S. Supreme Court to halt 'imminent' deportations
Lawyers for Venezuelan men detained in Texas asked the U.S. Supreme Court on Friday to block what the lawyers said were the men's imminent deportation by the Trump administration without the judicial review previously mandated by the justices. In a court filing, lawyers for the American Civil Liberties Union said some of the dozens of the men held at the Bluebonnet Detention Facility in Anson, Texas, had already been loaded onto a bus and told they were to be deported. Shortly after the filing, a government lawyer said he was unaware of plans by the Department of Homeland Security to deport the men on Friday, but there could be deportations on Saturday. "I've spoken with DHS. They are not aware of any current plans for flights tomorrow but I have also been told to say they reserve the right to remove people tomorrow," Justice Department attorney Drew Ensign told a district court in a separate but related case. In that district court case, Judge James Boasberg denied an ACLU request to block Trump from deporting suspected members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua. The cases raise questions about the Trump administration's adherence to limits set by the Supreme Court. It carries the risk of a significant clash between the two coequal branches of government and possibly even a full-blown constitutional crisis. The lawyers for the Venezuelans filed with the Supreme Court after failing to get a rapid response from earlier filings on Friday before U.S. District Judge James Hendrix in Abilene, Texas, and the Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans to block any such deportations. The ACLU said the men had been handed forms indicating they were classified as members of the Tren de Aragua gang. At issue is whether the Trump administration has fulfilled the Supreme Court's standard for providing the detainees due process before sending them to another country — possibly to the notorious prison in El Salvador where others are jailed. It was unclear on Friday how many people were potentially to be deported, and where they might be taken. The men's deportation would be the first since the Supreme Court told the Trump administration on April 7 that it must provide notice to Venezuelan migrants it is seeking to deport and give them the opportunity to challenge their deportations in court. In a 5-4 ruling, the Supreme Court allowed removals under that law to continue, but specified that "the notice must be afforded within a reasonable time and in such a manner as will allow them to actually seek habeas relief in the proper venue before such removal occurs." Habeas corpus relief refers to the right of detainees to challenge the legality of their detention. It is considered a bedrock right under U.S. law. The ACLU filed a photo of one of the notices with the court. "You have been determined to be an Alien Enemy subject to apprehension, restraint, and removal," read the notice. The recipient's name was obscured, and it was noted that the migrant refused to sign it on Friday. Elected last year on a promise to crack down on migrants, Trump invoked the law last month in a bid to bypass normal procedures and swiftly deport alleged members of Tren de Aragua, which his administration labels a terrorist group. Asked about the planned deportations on Friday, Trump said he was unfamiliar with the particular case but added: "If they're bad people, I would certainly authorize it." "That's why I was elected. A judge wasn't elected," he told reporters at the White House. Defense lawyers and Democrats in Congress have pressed the administration to demonstrate how it knows the Venezuelans are members of the gang, which is active in human trafficking and other crimes in South America but has a smaller U.S. presence. "We are not going to reveal the details of counter terrorism operations, but we are complying with the Supreme Court's ruling," Assistant Secretary for U.S. Homeland Security Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement on Friday. The Supreme Court did not indicate how much notice should be provided. Lawyers around the country have asked that the migrants be given 30 days' notice to allow them to contest their deportations. The Trump administration has not said publicly how much notice it intends to give the migrants. Judges in Manhattan, Denver, and Brownsville, Texas, have issued temporary orders blocking deportations under the Alien Enemies Act within their district. On March 15, the Trump administration deported more than 130 alleged members of the Tren de Aragua gang to El Salvador, citing the Alien Enemies Act, best known for being used to intern and deport people of Japanese, German and Italian descent during World War II. Many of the migrants' lawyers and family members say they were not gang members and had no chance to dispute the government's assertion that they were. U.S. District Judge James Boasberg in Washington, D.C., swiftly blocked any further deportations under the law. Trump then called for Boasberg's impeachment, prompting a rare rebuke from U.S. Chief Justice John Roberts, who said appeals, not impeachment, are the proper response to adverse court decisions. Boasberg is now probing whether the Trump administration violated his order to return the migrants, and warned that he could hold officials in contempt of court. An appeals court paused that inquiry on Friday. The Justice Department's statement that there were no plans for immediate deportations of Venezuelans was made during arguments on Friday in Boasberg's court. The judge had convened the hearing to weigh the ACLU's request for an emergency order blocking the administration from deporting people under the Alien Enemies Act without proper legal notice.
Reuters
18-04-2025
- Politics
- Reuters
Trump administration reserves right to deport Venezuelans on Saturday, DOJ lawyer tells judge
April 18 (Reuters) - A U.S. Justice Department lawyer told a judge on Friday that the Trump administration reserves the right to deport alleged Venezuelan gang members on Saturday. "I've spoken with DHS, they are not aware of any current plans for flights tomorrow but I have also been told to say they reserve the right to remove people tomorrow," said Justice Department attorney Drew Ensign.
Yahoo
21-03-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Friday's Mini-Report, 3.21.25
Today's edition of quick hits. * Texas' measles outbreak won't end soon: 'As containment efforts falter, the measles outbreak in West Texas is likely to persist for a year, perhaps even setting back the country's hard-fought victory over the virus, according to Texas health officials. As of Friday, the outbreak had sickened more than 300 people in Texas since January; 40 have been hospitalized. One child has died from the disease, the first such death in a decade. Related cases have been reported in New Mexico, Oklahoma and Chihuahua, Mexico.' * The Alien Enemies Act case: 'A federal judge sharply grilled a government attorney Friday about the Trump administration's apparent disregard of his order to return deportation flights to the United States, a dispute that has sparked a high-profile showdown this week between the president and the judiciary. Before deputy assistant attorney general Drew Ensign even had a chance to address the court at a hearing, James E. Boasberg, chief justice for the U.S. District Court in D.C., dramatically scolded him over the government's conduct in the case.' * Cautions like these seem to be increasingly common: 'Denmark is advising its transgender and nonbinary citizens to proceed with caution when traveling to the U.S., according to a new advisory. ... The addition comes one week after Finland issued a similar advisory for transgender residents seeking visas to the U.S.' * I'd hoped we were past this: 'The Trump administration sent a new group of migrants to the U.S. military base at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, on Thursday to await deportation, claiming that they may have ties to a Venezuelan gang, according to officials with knowledge of the operation. An Immigration and Customs Enforcement charter flight from El Paso transported about 20 people, said the officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the matter.' * A case worth watching: 'Elon Musk received a court summons last week in connection with the SEC's lawsuit over his alleged failure to properly disclose purchases of Twitter stock in 2022 before bidding to buy the company, according to a filing on Thursday.' * A shortfall like this one will increase food insecurity: 'Food banks across the country are scrambling to make up a $500 million budget shortfall after the Trump administration froze funds for hundreds of shipments of produce, poultry and other items that states had planned to distribute to needy residents.' Have a safe weekend. This article was originally published on
