The American Civil Liberties Union warned that the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling on immigration deportations under the Alien Enemies Act is problematic
The American Civil Liberties Union late Friday warned that immigration authorities were moving to quickly restart removals under the Alien Enemies Act despite the U.S. Supreme Court’s restrictions on how it can use the act.
The assistant secretary of Homeland Security said they would be complying with the Supreme Court’s ruling on the confidentiality of counter terrorism operations.
NPR was unable to independently confirm the number of people who may be deported from this facility. The Department of Homeland Security wouldn’t give details or provide additional information about the case.
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.
A lawyer with the American Civil Liberties Union told the radio station that migrants in Texas’ far northern end were going to be taken to buses for deportation late Friday.
Two federal judges did not step in as the men’s lawyers launched a desperate legal campaign to prevent their deportation. The 5th Circuit Court of Appeals has yet to make a decision.
It isn’t clear if you have the right to contest, but you can 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 lawyer said they were not aware of any deportation flights on Friday and that the government had the right to remove people on Saturday.
Deportation of a scalar gang member in Texas to a brutal prison: “Nobody is going to come see me,” said Judge Boasburg
“I don’t think I have the power to make a decision and it is now up to the Supreme Court,” Judge Boasburg said, as he told the ACLU attorney how he felt about everything they were saying.
Boasberg this week found there’s probable cause that the Trump administration committed criminal contempt by disobeying his initial deportation ban. The Supreme Court mandated that ICE make clear that those held have the right to challenge their removal in court, and he believed that the paper the agency was giving them didn’t do that.
We are very relieved the Court is blocking the removal. Lee Gelernt of the American Civil Liberties Union said in an email that these individuals were in grave danger of being imprisoned for the rest of their lives in a brutal Salvadoran prison.
The act has only been invoked three previous times in U.S. history, most recently during World War II to hold Japanese-American civilians in internment camps. The Trump administration contended it gave them power to swiftly remove immigrants they identified as members of the gang, regardless of their immigration status.
There was no such order covering Bluebonnet in the area of Texas that is in the far northern part of the state.
Three different immigration lawyers made sworn statements in the filing that said their clients in Bluebonnet could be deported by Saturday if they didn’t return to their home country. Brown said that her client had to sign papers in English even though he only spoke Spanish.
The Massachusetts judge’s permanent ban on deportation of immigrants who have exhausted their appeals to countries other than their home countries, if they face torture, was put in place on Friday.