U.S. District Court Judge James Boasberg declined to lift a restraining order prohibiting the Trump administration from using the Alien Enemies Act to deport Venezuelans, citing the likelihood that migrants will succeed in obtaining hearings to determine whether they are members of a gang.
Boasberg cited President Trump’s “unprecedented use of the Act outside of the typical wartime context” in signing an order authorizing the deportation of any Venezuelan suspected of belonging to the Tren de Aragua gang.
“Plaintiffs are likely to succeed on another equally fundamental theory: before they may be deported, they are entitled to individualized hearings to determine whether the Act applies to them at all,” according to Boasberg.
“Because the named Plaintiffs dispute that they are members of Tren de Aragua, they may not be deported until a court has been able to decide the merits of their challenge.”
Boasberg pointed out that the Trump administration can still deport Venezuelans using regular immigration authorities.
“The Order did not prevent Defendants from removing anyone, including members of the class, under other immigration authorities, such as the [Immigration and Nationality Act].
Indeed, as previously stated, those associated with Tren de Aragua were already deportable under that statute as members of a [Foreign Terrorist Organization],” he wrote.
The order comes amid a separate legal battle over whether the Trump administration violated Boasberg’s court order directing that any flights transporting migrants to a Salvadoran prison be halted or turned around.
“The government is not being very cooperative at this point, but I will find out whether they violated my order, who ordered it, and what the consequences will be,” Boasberg said Friday, after the Trump administration repeatedly refused to provide information about the timing of the flights.
In his Monday order, Boasberg also mentioned other concerns about sending migrants to a Salvadoran prison that has been accused of torturing inmates.
He claimed that the approximately 260 Venezuelans brought to El Salvador under both the Alien Enemies Act and immigration authorities were not informed of their location and did not have the opportunity to file claims under the Convention Against Torture.
“Without such information, even if they had been given an opportunity to raise a torture claim, they would not have been able to meaningfully do so,” Boasberg said.
