The ruling states that the Trump administration can utilize the law, but individuals being deported have the right to contest their removal.
The United States Supreme Court has ruled that the administration of President Donald Trump can proceed with deporting Venezuelan migrants under the 18th-century Alien Enemies Act, while also requiring that they be given a “reasonable time” to present their case before a judge.
In a 5-4 decision, the top court in the US overturned a ruling from a lower federal court that had attempted to temporarily prevent summary deportations under the same act from 1798.
The Trump administration has used this wartime law, previously applied during World War II, to deport alleged members of Venezuela’s Tren de Aragua gang by asserting they are engaged in “irregular warfare” within the US.
Since Trump’s inauguration in January, hundreds of individuals have been deported to El Salvador, but flights carrying deportees were halted by a federal judge on March 15.
Although the Supreme Court upheld the administration’s ability to utilize the wartime law for deportation purposes, it emphasized that deportees still have the right to due process and should be given “notice and an opportunity to challenge their removal.”
In a dissenting view, three liberal judges of the court were joined by conservative Justice Amy Coney Barrett, who agreed with some parts of their argument.
Both Trump and the American Civil Liberties Union, representing five Venezuelans in the case, considered the ruling a success.
In a separate decision on the same day, the Supreme Court temporarily blocked a lower court’s order that directed the Trump administration to repatriate a Salvadoran man to the US after he was mistakenly deported.
The lower court’s decision demanded the return of Kilmar Abrego Garcia from El Salvador, where he was wrongfully deported on March 15, by midnight on Monday.
The temporary stay granted by the Supreme Court allows its nine justices more time to review the case.
Abrego Garcia, a lawful US resident married to an American citizen, was granted protection from deportation in a 2019 ruling that recognized he would face persecution from criminal gangs if sent back to his home country.
The US government has alleged that Abrego Garcia is a member of the international gang MS-13, a claim that his attorneys have refuted.
In January, the Trump administration classified MS-13 as a “terrorist organization.”
