The US Supreme Court has ordered the Trump administration to pause the deportation of a group of alleged Venezuelan gang members, currently detained in Texas, after a civil liberties group challenged the process, claiming the detainees had been denied a fair opportunity to contest their removal in court.
The group, American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), sued the administration, arguing that the men had received deportation notices in English, despite one detainee not speaking the language. The lawsuit also stated that the men were not informed of their right to challenge the deportation.
“Without this Court’s intervention, dozens or hundreds of proposed class members may be removed to a possible life sentence in El Salvador with no real opportunity to contest their designation or removal,” the lawsuit read.
In March, a lower court temporarily blocked the deportations, but the Supreme Court’s ruling comes after a broader controversy surrounding Donald Trump’s hard-line immigration policies, which have encountered numerous legal challenges since he took office in January.
The Trump administration invoked the 1798 Alien Enemies Act, a law that allows the president to detain and deport nationals of “enemy” nations without due process. The law was last used during World War Two, when people of Japanese descent were imprisoned and sent to internment camps.
According to the White House, the use of the law for mass deportations is justified, despite criticism from activists. Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt dismissed challenges to the deportations as “meritless litigation.”
“We are confident in the lawfulness of the administration’s actions and in ultimately prevailing against an onslaught of meritless litigation brought by radical activists who care more about the rights of terrorist aliens than those of the American people,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a post on X.
As of 8 April, 137 of 261 deported Venezuelans were sent to El Salvador under the Alien Enemies Act. In one high-profile case, the government admitted to mistakenly deporting Kilmar Ábrego García, an El Salvador national accused of being a gang member. García’s family and lawyer dispute the claim, as he has never been convicted of a crime.
The Supreme Court ruled that deportees must be given a chance to challenge their removal, a decision that has stirred significant debate over the Trump administration’s immigration practices. The ruling was met with dissenting opinions from Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito.
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