Supreme Court pauses Trump’s deportations under the 1798 Alien Enemies Act, citing serious due process flaws

The US Supreme Court on Friday blocked President Donald Trump’s attempt to restart deportations under the rarely used 1798 Alien Enemies Act, halting efforts to remove a group of Venezuelan immigrants in northern Texas. The ruling marks a significant setback for the Trump administration’s bid to speed deportations by bypassing standard legal review.

The case now returns to the 5th US Circuit Court of Appeals, which must decide whether the president’s invocation of this centuries-old wartime authority is lawful and how much notice migrants must receive before removal.

In an unsigned opinion, the Supreme Court criticised the administration’s handling of deportations, especially the brief 24-hour notice given to detainees without adequate information on how to contest their removal. The court highlighted the high stakes involved, referencing a prior incident where an immigrant was mistakenly deported to El Salvador and could not be returned. This underscored the need for careful judicial scrutiny before irreversible removals take place.

Chief Justice Clarence Thomas and Justice Samuel Alito dissented publicly, arguing the court intervened prematurely. Alito condemned the majority for overstepping by effectively deciding important issues before the lower courts had fully addressed them.

Justice Brett Kavanaugh concurred with the decision but urged the court to take the case fully and swiftly, emphasising the need for a prompt final ruling on the matter.

Lower federal courts nationwide have struggled with the fallout of Trump’s attempt to deploy the Alien Enemies Act to accelerate deportations of alleged members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua. Several district courts in Texas, Nevada, and Colorado issued temporary blocks against the administration’s use of the law while considering numerous lawsuits filed by immigrant rights groups.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has been active in filing habeas corpus petitions to protect detainees and others similarly threatened with deportation under the act. In northern Texas, migrants at the Bluebonnet Detention Centre received notices giving them less than 24 hours’ warning of potential removal—an action sharply criticised by the ACLU for violating due process.

A federal judge in Abilene, Texas, denied a temporary injunction request from two migrants, reasoning that the government had assured it would not immediately deport them. But the Supreme Court’s intervention halted all deportations under the act for the targeted group in northern Texas pending further legal review.

Trump, who first invoked the Alien Enemies Act in mid-March as part of his campaign promise to crack down on criminal immigrants, responded on social media, claiming the Supreme Court “WON’T ALLOW US TO GET CRIMINALS OUT OF OUR COUNTRY.”

The administration had previously appealed to the Supreme Court, citing “sensitive national-security-related operations” to resume deportations, and a murky April 7 order technically allowed use of the law while blocking civil rights groups’ attempts to shut it down completely. However, the court required notice and opportunity to challenge removals, which the administration failed to adequately provide.

As the legal battle continues, the Supreme Court’s latest ruling leaves deportations under the Alien Enemies Act in limbo nationwide, pending final decisions from lower courts and potentially the justices themselves.