The Supreme Court temporarily allowed the Trump administration to proceed with deportations of Venezuelan migrants under the Alien Enemies Act. The ruling focused on procedural aspects, finding that the initial lawsuit was filed in the wrong court (Washington D.C., instead of Texas where the migrants were detained).
This ruling represents a victory for the Trump administration, at least temporarily, though the procedural nature of the decision leaves open potential future challenges to the use of the Alien Enemies Act in this context. The requirement for advance notice and opportunity to challenge deportation before removal could also impose significant limitations on the administration's future actions.
The Supreme Court ruled on Monday night that the Trump administration could continue to deport Venezuelan migrants using a wartime powers act for now, overturning a lower court that had put a temporary stop to the deportations.
The decision marks a victory for the Trump administration, although the ruling did not address the constitutionality of using the Alien Enemies Act to send the migrants to a prison in El Salvador. The justices instead issued a narrow procedural ruling, saying that the migrants’ lawyers had filed their lawsuit in the wrong court.
The justices said it should have been filed in Texas, where the Venezuelans are being held, rather than a court in Washington.
All nine justices agreed that the Venezuelan migrants detained in the United States must receive advance notice and the opportunity to challenge their deportation before they could be removed, Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh wrote in a concurrence.
The split among the court was over where — and how — that should happen.
“The detainees are confined in Texas, so venue is improper in the District of Columbia,” according to the court’s order, which was brief and unsigned, as is typical in such emergency applications.
The justices ordered that the Venezuelan migrants must be told that they were subject to removal under the Alien Enemies Act “within a reasonable time” for them to challenge their removal before they are deported. That finding could impose significant new restrictions on how the Trump administration might attempt to use the act in the future.
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