The United States Supreme Court dealt a new legal blow to the government of Donald Trump by blocking the use of the Alien Enemies Act to expedite the deportation of Venezuelan migrants allegedly linked to criminal networks.
The judges of the Supreme Court, mostly conservative and with three of them appointed by Trump, determined that migrants must have more time to defend their case against deportation notices, which are issued 24 hours before deportation takes place, as reported by NBC News.
What are the details of the Supreme Court’s decision?
Furthermore, the Supreme Court sent the case back to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, based in New Orleans, for further review.
The decision is a blow to Trump, although he still has a tough legal battle ahead.
The judges stated that the interests of migrants “carry special weight” given the case of Kilmar Ábrego, the Salvadoran man deported to El Salvador. “The government has stated that it cannot arrange for the return of a person deported in error to a prison in El Salvador,” the document says.
The highest court in the United States did not determine whether this 18th-century legislation is being used correctly by the Trump administration, but rather pointed out that migrants must have more resources and information to face their deportation processes.
The decision, which was opposed by conservative judges Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito, comes after the Supreme Court requested in April that the Trump Administration temporarily suspend deportations protected by this legislation.
The Trump administration has used this law to expel migrants they identified as members of the criminal organization Tren de Aragua, regardless of their immigration status, and, as human rights organizations report, without following the necessary deportation protocol.
18th-century legislation has only been invoked three times before in the history of the United States, the most recent during World War II to intern American civilians of Japanese descent in internment camps.
Trump reacts with annoyance
Once the decision of the Supreme Court was known, the President of the United States stated that the ruling against the Foreign Enemies Act will cause “more criminals to enter” the country and will cause “great harm” to the “beloved American people”.
“The Supreme Court has just ruled that the worst murderers, drug traffickers, gang members, and even those with mental health issues who entered our country illegally cannot be expelled without going through a long, prolonged, and costly legal process,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social account.