A federal judge on Tuesday castigated President Trump for deporting Venezuelan gang members to El Salvador, saying he stretched the Alien Enemies Act beyond its breaking point in order to justify the ousters.
Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein, a Clinton appointee to the court in New York, issued a preliminary injunction against Mr. Trump using the AEA against deportees in his federal district.
He said Mr. Trump failed to make the case that Tren de Aragua, the Venezuelan gang Mr. Trump is using the AEA against, is engaged in an orchestrated invasion of the U.S.
“There is nothing in the AEA that justifies a finding that refugees migrating from Venezuela, or TdA gangsters who infiltrate the migrants, are engaged in an ‘invasion’ or ‘predatory incursion,’” the judge wrote.
“They do not seek to occupy territory, to oust American jurisdiction from any territory, or to ravage territory. TdA may well be engaged in narcotics trafficking, but that is a criminal matter, not an invasion or predatory incursion,” he added.
Judge Hellerstein also ruled that the Trump administration wasn’t giving deportation targets sufficient notice to challenge their impending removal under the AEA.
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He said the administration must lay out facts for why someone is suspected of being a TdA member, when they joined, and what sorts of illicit activities they took part in as a member of the gang.
Judge Hellerstein is the second federal judge to rule against Mr. Trump’s use of the Alien Enemies Act.
Last week Judge Fernando Rodriguez Jr. said that Mr. Trump stretched the definition of “invasion” in the 1798 law.
His ruling applied to Venezuelan migrants facing AEA deportations in southern Texas.
Judge Hellerstein’s order, which likewise bars Mr. Trump from conducting AEA deportations, applies to the judicial Southern District of New York.
Both judges said Mr. Trump can still deport people under the regular immigration code.
Judge Hellerstein scolded Mr. Trump for previous deportations that already took place under the AEA, and said that set the stage for his own ruling.
“The sweep for removal is ongoing, extending to the litigants in this case and others, thwarted only by order of this and other federal courts. The destination, El Salvador, a country paid to take our aliens, is neither the country from which the aliens came, nor to which they wish to be removed. But they are taken there, and there to remain, indefinitely, in a notoriously evil jail, unable to communicate with counsel, family or friends,” the judge said.
