A federal judge in Texas issued an order on Wednesday that temporarily blocked the use of the Trump Administration Law of the Alien Enemies Law to deport the persons held in an immigration detention center in southern Texas, without due process. A second judge in New York said at a hearing that he planned a similar order that would be applied to migrants held in the southern district of the jurisdiction of the Federal Court of New York.
In Texas, the American district judge Fernando Rodríguez Jr., in Brownsville, blocked the elimination of any person held at the El Valle detention Center in Raymondville, who could be subject to the proclamation of President Donald Trump that invokes the Alien enemies law, a war deportation law.
The district judge Alvin Hellerstein, in the South District of New York, said he would issue a temporary restriction order on Wednesday that prevents the Trump administration from being deported without adequate notice and listening to any Venezuelan migrant that the administration has said they are removable by virtue of the law.
NBC News has communicated with the Department of Justice to comment on both cases.
Trump invoked the alien enemies law last month after declaring the Venezuela Train of Aragua an invading force. Since then, immigration officials have used that law to deport hundreds of people, without immigration audiences, claiming that they are gang members. Many have ended in a mega prison in El Salvador known for their harsh conditions and infusted abuse.
The judges made their decisions in separate habeas requests presented, in Texas, by the American Union of Civil Liberties and the ACLU of Texas, and in New York by the ACLU Foundation. They follow the decision of the United States Supreme Court on Monday, which allows the Trump administration to deport the men who claim that they are members of the Aragua Train gang under the Alien Enemies Law.
The highest court of the Nation ruled that the original lawsuit, filed in Washington, should have been filed in the state where the plaintiffs were arrested. He also ruled that the plaintiffs should be allowed to challenge their arrests and if the alien enemies law is legally applied to them.
The demand of the ACLU in Texas was presented on behalf of three Venezuelans who are arrested at the El Valle detention center in Raymondville, Texas. Rodríguez specifically blocked the removals of those plaintiffs, identified in the demand such as WGH, JGG and JAV
But he also blocked that the Trump administration eliminated anyone who is currently housed at the El Valle detention Center identified by the Government as a subject to the elimination under the proclamation of March 15 of the president addressed to members of the train of Aragua.
The judge also blocked any transport or relocation of “such persons” outside the condition of Wellacy and Cameron in Texas without a court order. The order is in force until 5 PM, April 23.
Rodríguez scheduled an audience at 1:30 pm on Friday to consider whether to extend the temporary restriction order or issue other forms of emergency relief.
He said he issued the tro avoiding his removal so that the plaintiffs could develop “a more complete record” for the court, since he considers his request for a preliminary judicial order and another relief. He also said that he issued the order “to avoid the immediate and irreparable injury that can occur with the immediate elimination of any Venezuelan immigrant” that may be subject to the invocation of the President of the Alien Enemies Law.
In the case of New York presented by two Venezuelans, Hellerstein said Wednesday that he would broadcast an order to temporarily block the deportations of individuals in the jurisdiction of the southern district under the law of Alien enemies.
He said that detainees in the South New York district should receive an “appropriate” or “adequate” warning and the opportunity to challenge the government accusations in court.
“Given the story, they seem to be protected and given the opportunity before being deported,” said Hellerstein
The Government said that Hellerstein’s order would apply to less than 10 people in the district.
The Alien enemies Law of 1798, not used since World War II, allows the president to detain non -citizens in times of war and eliminate them when the country is under invasion or experiences “predatory raid.” The law was remarkably when people of Japanese descent in the United States were arrested and held in the internment fields; The government also had people of German and Italian ancestry.
The decision of the Supreme Court left several legal issues on the use of the law of alien enemies indecisive enemies, even if the Trump administration can invoke it against gang members.
In its presentation in Texas, the ACLU said that the Administration has not yet explained what notice it intends to provide.
“That the government has not yet done so is especially problematic given the position that” before the ruling of the Supreme Court that was the importation of the court order of the detainees raised, in unequivocal terms it would immediately begin to deport the plaintiffs without prior notice, the group said in their complaint.
In the original lawsuit filed by ACLU, the American district judge based in Washington, James Boasberg, blocked the deportations of Trump’s plaintiffs and had provisionally certified the demand as a demand for collective action that applied to all Venezuelans in US custody who were not US citizens. The decision of the Supreme Court raised that order.
The original case led to the combination between the Administration and Boasberg, who has questioned whether Trump’s administration lawyers ignored their verbal order to turn around or return the planes that lead to deportees back to the United States.
In a separate case, a federal judge in Maryland ordered the Government to return to Kilmar Abrego García, a resident of the United States with protected legal status, after the government recognized that he mistakenly sent the man to the prison of El Salvador.
