US Supreme Court halts deportations using outdated legislation | Donald Trump Updates

The United States Supreme Court has ordered a temporary halt on the deportation of two Venezuelan men, invoking an old wartime law previously used by President Donald Trump’s administration to deport hundreds of people to El Salvador. This ruling sets up the possibility of another challenge by the Trump administration to the power of the courts and even a full-blown constitutional crisis. The court issued the order to pause the deportation of the men in immigration custody early on Saturday, after their lawyers filed an urgent petition citing an imminent risk of removal without due process. Two of the nine justices on the Supreme Court, conservatives Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito, dissented from the decision. The court issued the ruling following an emergency appeal filed by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), which claimed that immigration authorities appeared to be moving to restart removals under the Alien Enemies Act of 1798. Trump’s use of the wartime legislation, last used during World War II, has sparked debate over the constitution’s ability to rein in executive power. The Supreme Court had previously stated that deportations could only proceed if those about to be removed had a chance to argue their case in court and were given a “reasonable time” to contest their pending removals. The White House has not yet commented on the ruling. Two federal judges had refused to intervene to stop the latest deportation proceedings, and the US 5th Circuit Court of Appeals had yet to act, prompting the ACLU to file a petition directly with the Supreme Court. Some of the men had already been loaded onto buses and were told they were to be deported. The Trump administration had previously deported 238 alleged Venezuelan gang members and 23 members of a Salvadoran gang to a maximum-security prison in El Salvador, despite a US federal judge granting a temporary suspension of the expulsions. Among those deported was Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Maryland resident who had secured a protection order preventing the process from going ahead. The Trump administration later acknowledged that it had wrongly deported Garcia but has refused to abide by a separate Supreme Court order to return him to the US. Democratic Senator Chris Van Hollen, who met with Garcia in El Salvador on Thursday, stated that it is “very clear that the president” is “blatantly, flagrantly … defying the order from the Supreme Court.” Van Hollen further emphasized that this case is not only about one man but also about protecting the fundamental freedoms and the constitutional principle of due process for everyone who resides in America.

Source: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/4/19/us-supreme-court-orders-temporary-halt-to-deportations-under-antique-law?traffic_source=rss