The Trump administration on Friday asked the Supreme Court to revive its use of a wartime deportation law after a lower court blocked efforts to expel more than 200 alleged Venezuelan gang members without hearings.
In an emergency petition, Justice Department lawyers urged the high court to lift orders issued by a federal judge in the District of Columbia and upheld by an appeals court this week that halted removals under President Donald Trump’s invocation of the Alien Enemies Act, a centuries-old law allowing the expulsion of noncitizens during war or national emergency.
The administration used the law to deport alleged members of Tren de Aragua, a transnational gang designated by the State Department as a terrorist group. Trump’s proclamation declared the gang a tool of Venezuela’s Maduro regime, calling its infiltration “a campaign of terror” and “irregular warfare” against the United States.
The Justice Department warned in its filing that the lower courts’ orders “jeopardize sensitive diplomatic negotiations and delicate national-security operations” and amount to “rule-by-TRO” that defies the Constitution’s separation of powers, referring to the multitudes of temporary restraining orders that have been placed against Trump administration policies.
“This case presents fundamental questions about who decides how to conduct sensitive national-security-related operations in this country—the President, through Article II, or the Judiciary, through TROs,” acting Solicitor General Sarah Harris wrote. “The Constitution supplies a clear answer: the President. The republic cannot afford a different choice.”
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit on Wednesday upheld the temporary block, with Judge Patricia Millett warning that deporting the men without hearings denied them “even a gossamer thread of due process.”
TRUMP DOJ WAGES DUAL FIGHTS IN VENEZUELAN MIGRANTS CASE
Trump administration officials argue the judiciary has no authority to override presidential findings under the Alien Enemies Act, particularly in cases involving foreign terrorist designations.
The Supreme Court has not yet acted on the request. The lower court’s temporary restraining orders are set to expire Saturday.
