From Fox News: A federal appeals court ruled on Tuesday that the Trump administration cannot speed the deportations of migrants accused of being members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua using an 18th-century wartime law.
In a 2-1 ruling, the Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals sided with immigrant rights lawyers and lower court judges who argued the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 was not created to be used against gangs like Tren de Aragua.
“The Trump administration’s use of a wartime statute during peacetime to regulate immigration was rightly shut down by the court,” Lee Gelernt, who argued the case for the American Civil Liberties Union, said. “This is a critically important decision reining in the administration’s view that it can simply declare an emergency without any oversight by the courts.”
The Alien Enemies Act was previously used only three times in U.S. history, and all came during declared wars in the War of 1812 and the two World Wars.
The 2-1 ruling blocks deportations from Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi. The court claimed that the Trump administration’s allegations about Tren de Aragua are not do not meet the standard that Congress intended when the law was initially approved.
More from NBC News: Judge Leslie Southwick, an appointee of President George W. Bush, and Judge Irma Ramirez, an appointee of President Joe Biden, voted in favor of the preliminary injunction that blocks use of the Alien Enemies Act.
Judge Andrew Oldham, a Trump appointee, voted against it and argued in a fiery dissent that Trump is subject to different guardrails from other presidents.
The Trump administration is expected to appeal the case to the Supreme Court.
When will the judicial overreach end? 5th Circuit Court of Appeals rules that Trump CANNOT deport violent Tren de Aragua gang members because they did NOT represent a violent incursion.
These unelected judges will destroy us all.
— Bill Mitchell (@mitchellvii) September 3, 2025
Appeals court blocks Trump from deporting members of Tren de Aragua gang https://t.co/k9XfKDDBit
— Fox News Politics (@foxnewspolitics) September 3, 2025
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