Supreme Court Temporarily Blocks New Deportations Under Alien Enemies Act

The Supreme Court temporarily blocked the Trump administration from deporting any Venezuelans held in the Bluebonnet Detention Center, in west-central Texas, under the Alien Enemies Act, a rarely used 18th-century wartime law that allows for accelerated removal of foreigners deemed a threat by authorities.

“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 court said in a brief early Saturday note. Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito dissented.

The American Civil Liberties Union late Friday had warned that immigration authorities were moving to quickly restart removals under the Alien Enemies Act despite the previous Supreme Court’s restrictions on how it can use the act. Late Thursday a group of Venezuelans detained at the Bluebonnet Detention Center was advised that they would be immediately deported. ACLU lawyer Lee Gelernt told NPR that migrants at the Anson, Texas, facility were being loaded onto buses for removal late Friday.

This came despite a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling that found the Trump administration could continue deporting under the act — only if detainees are given due process to challenge their removal. The government says 137 migrants accused of being members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua, including a group of men sent to a prison in El Salvador, have already been deported under the Alien Enemies Act.

NPR was unable to independently confirm the number of people who may be deported from the Bluebonnet Detention facility. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security declined to provide details or answer additional questions about the case.

“We are not going to reveal the details of counter terrorism operations, and we are complying with the Supreme Court’s ruling,” said Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security Tricia McLaughlin.

ACLU asked Supreme Court and federal judges for emergency injunction

The ACLU late Friday had asked the Supreme Court for an emergency injunction and stay of removal. The group asked that migrants being subjected to the Alien Enemies Act be given at least 30 days advance notice.

“The notice the government is providing does not remotely comply with the Supreme Court’s order,” the ACLU argued in the request for an injunction. “At a minimum, the notice must be translated into a language that individuals can understand. Most importantly, there must be sufficient time for individuals to seek review. As during World War II, that notice must be at least 30 days in advance of any attempted removal.”

The group also unsuccessfully asked a federal judge to halt any new deportations. At an emergency hearing Friday evening federal Judge James Boasberg seemed to agree the forms migrants were asked to sign regarding the Act had no information regarding their right to contest and were inadequate.

“It doesn’t say you have the right to contest, you have the right to challenge anything. It’s just telling you here’s the notice, you’re getting removed,” Boasberg told Justice Department attorney Drew Ensign. “That certainly seems problematic to me.”

The Justice Department argued that the notice complies with the previous Supreme Court’s guidance on the issue.

Federal judges in several districts have blocked the deportation of people using the Alien Enemies Act. The ACLU sued the administration again this week, in order to block deportations at several additional Texas detention centers, including Bluebonnet, a facility in west-central Texas about halfway between Lubbock and Fort Worth.

The ACLU alleges that in recent days, many Venezuelan migrants were specifically brought to Bluebonnet for that reason. The government denies this.

Boasberg earlier this week found probable cause that the Trump administration committed criminal contempt by disobeying his ruling, only to see the Supreme Court rule that only judges where migrants are being held have jurisdiction to halt their removal.

Stella M. Chávez from The Texas Newsroom and NPR’s Ximena Bustillo contributed reporting to this story.