The mass deportation plans of the Trump administration have once again been stymied by a federal judge issuing a temporary restraining order.
This time, it was U.S. District Court Judge Charlotte N. Sweeney of Denver, Colorado, who said Tuesday that President Donald Trump may be improperly invoking the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to facilitate the deportation of illegal aliens.
‘The proclamation makes no finding that satisfies these definitional demands. Thus, to the extent the proclamation relies on the act’s ‘invasion’ and ‘incursion’ provisions to justify its removal powers, it does so improperly.’
The lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union argued that those tagged for removal from the U.S. needed to be given the opportunity to fight the deportation proceedings in court.
Sweeney prohibited the government from deporting the two Venezuelan plaintiffs in the case, as well as 100 others detained at a facility in Aurora that would be sent to a maximum-security prison in El Salvador for terrorists. She also ordered the administration to give detainees at least 21 days of notice.
Both of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit deny that they are members of Tren de Aragua, a vicious gang that Trump labeled as a terrorist group in order to invoke the 1798 law.
Sweeney opined that the ACLU’s legal challenge to the removals under the Alien Enemies Act would likely be successful based on other successful lawsuits against the Trump administration.
She also found the wartime declaration by the president against an “invasion” from Tren de Aragua to be dubious in nature.
“These words, fundamentally, demand military and wartime action,” Sweeney ruled. “The proclamation makes no finding that satisfies these definitional demands. Thus, to the extent the proclamation relies on the act’s ‘invasion’ and ‘incursion’ provisions to justify its removal powers, it does so improperly.”
Earlier in April, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Trump could continue deportation proceedings under the 1798 law but also unanimously found that those subject to deportation had a right to defend themselves against the orders.
Vice President JD Vance has argued on social media that due process was too laborious for the government to undertake while millions of illegal aliens still resided in the U.S.
Judge Sweeney was appointed to the court by former President Joe Biden.
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