CNN
–
A federal judge temporarily blocked the Trump administration’s ability to use massive wartime authority to quickly deport immigrants who accused the United States of partnering with Venezuelan gang Tren DeLagua.
The judge also ordered airplanes carrying some of those migrants to return to the United States.
Earlier on Saturday, the Trump administration summoned the alien enemy law of 1798. This gave the President an incredible power to target and eliminate undocumented immigrants and speed up the deportation of migrants. The law is designed to be called if the United States is at war with another country or if foreigners invade or threaten to do so.
US District Judge James Boasberg blocked the administration from deporting five individuals who challenged President Donald Trump’s use of law. Following a rushed hearing in the coming hours, Boasberg widened the administration’s temporary bloc, granting requests from plaintiffs’ lawyers, and certifying the interim rank covering all non-citizens of U.S. custody rights subject to Trump’s declaration.
Boasberg, who serves as the Supreme Court Justice at the Federal Court level in Washington, D.C., agreed that deportation of these individuals should also be temporarily blocked while the legal agenda progresses.
“I don’t think we can wait any longer, especially given the plaintiff’s information not repeated by the government, as flights are actively departing and planning to leave,” Boasberg continued. “Airplanes that contain these people who take off or are in the air need to be returned to the US.”
The judge said the temporary restraining order would be effective for 14 days or “until further court orders.” He set up another hearing in the incident later this month.
“I think there’s obviously irreparable harm here given these people being deported,” Boasberg said. “A short delay in their removal will not cause harm to the government.”
In a presidential declaration issued on Saturday, the White House cited Tren de Aragua’s designation as a foreign terrorist organization, saying many of them “have illegally infiltrated the United States, engaged in irregular wars, and took hostile actions against the United States.”
The declaration called for all those subject to the measure to be arrested, detained and removed immediately.
According to the Brennan Center, the alien enemy law has been called three times in US history (during the war). It was used during World War II and II to justify the detention and expulsion of German, Austrian-Hungarians, Italians and Japanese immigrants. According to the Institute for Non-Participation Law and Policy Studies, the law played a role in the infamous policy of Japan’s detention during World War II.
The federal judge’s first Saturday ruling came after a request to judges from the hours ahead of the American Civil Liberties Union and Democracy before the order. The group argued that there might not be enough time to intervene after Trump has issued it.
In its submission, the ACLU argued that the gang was not engaged in invasion “as criminal conduct does not meet the long-standing definition of these statutory requirements.”
The Justice Department immediately appealed the judge’s temporary restraining order to the DC Court of Appeals.
This story has been updated with additional details.
CNN’s Devan Cole and Shania Shelton contributed to this report.
