April 19 (UPI) — The U.S. Supreme Court early Saturday paused the deportations of any Venezuelans held in northern Texas under the 1798 Alien Enemies Act.
The court, on a 7-2 split, with Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito dissenting, issued a two-paragraph order early Saturday halting the deportations.
“Upon action by the Fifth Circuit, the Solicitor General is invited to file a response to the application before this Court as soon as possible. The Government is directed not to remove any member of the putative class of detainees from the United States until further order of this Court,” the justices wrote in the order.
The Alien Enemies Act is a wartime authority that allows the president to detain or deport natives and citizens of an enemy nation. It was last invoked in World War II when people of Japanese descent were imprisoned without trial in internment camps.
This is the second time the Supreme Court has acted on President Donald Trump‘s use of the act. Last week, the court allowed Trump to use the authority but migrants being removed needed to receive notice and can have their deportation reviewed by a federal court.
The justices also ruled that migrants could only challenge their deportations in court districts where the facilities they are being detained are located.
On Friday, attorneys for the Venezuelans filed an emergency appeal that the migrants, being held at the Bluebonnet Detention Center in Anson, about 204 miles west of Dallas, were at immediate risk of being deported but were given less than 24 hours to challenge their deportation.
“I am sympathetic to everything you’re saying, I just don’t I think I have the power to do anything,” District Court Judge James Boasberg told a lawyer for the migrants at an emergency hearing Friday night.
Boasberg, who asked an attorney for the Trump administration when it will resume deportations, said he decided not to rule because of “where the issue stands in the 5th Circuit and the Supreme Court.” The Fifth Circuit considers appeals coming out of Texas.
Justice Department attorney Drew Ensign told the court that the Department of Homeland Security “reserves the right to remove migrants Saturday.”
Boasberg told ACLU attorney Lee Gelernt, who is representing the migrants, that the notice they received is “very troubling” and likely does not comply with the Supreme Court’s ruling.
Boasberg has ordered contempt proceedings against the Trump administration for allegedly defying his earlier order, although on Friday nigh, an appeals court in the District of Columbia issued an administrative pause on Boasberg’s plans.
The Trump administration has said it has the authority to swiftly remove immigrants they accuse of being members of the Tren de Aragua gang the Alien Enemies Act and has defied numerous court orders, including from the Supreme Court, as it moves to deport alleged gang members.
Trump signed an executive order on March 15 designating the Venezuelan gang as a Foreign Terrorist Organization with thousands of members, “many of whom have unlawfully infiltrated the United States and are conducting irregular warfare and undertaking hostile actions against the United States.”
Asked about the deportation case, Trump said Friday he was unfamiliar with the particular case but said that “if they’re bad people, I would certainly authorize it.”
“That’s why I was elected. A judge wasn’t elected,” he later added in comments at the White House.