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Many of the deportees' lawyers and family members say they are not given the chance to challenge the administration's assertions in court
Published : 21 Apr 2025, 10:00 PM
Venezuelan migrants will seek to bolster their protections against deportation under a wartime law this week, after the Supreme Court temporarily blocked the Trump administration from deporting a group of migrants with an emergency ruling over the weekend.
At a court hearing scheduled for Monday, two Venezuelan men in immigration custody in Denver, Colorado are expected to ask US District Judge Charlotte Sweeney to extend her order preventing them and other Venezuelans within her jurisdiction from being deported under the 1798 Alien Enemies Act.
It is the first of several similar hearings at courthouses across the country scheduled for this week as the American Civil Liberties Union, which is representing Venezuelan migrants, seeks to require Republican President Donald Trump's administration to provide migrants with 30 days' notice of their looming deportations under the law and the opportunity to challenge their removals in court.
Trump, who won election last November after promising to take a hard line on illegal immigration, on March 15 invoked the Alien Enemies Act - best known for being used to intern and deport people of Japanese, German and Italian descent during World War Two - to swiftly deport hundreds of alleged members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua outside of normal immigration procedures.
Many of the deportees' lawyers and family members have denied they had ties to the gang, and said they were not given the chance to challenge the administration's assertions in court.
After those deportations, the Supreme Court on April 7 ordered the Trump administration to give migrants meaningful advance notice that they had been designated under the Alien Enemies Act and to make sure they had the chance to challenge their deportations in court.
During the early hours on Saturday, the high court again weighed in on the case, blocking in a 7-2 decision any deportations of Venezuelans from the Bluebonnet Detention Facility in Texas after lawyers warned their deportations under the Alien Enemies Act were imminent. That ruling only applies to northern Texas, but judges in other areas where Venezuelans targeted for removal under the law are being held - including New York and southern Texas - have temporarily blocked deportations.
The White House responded that Trump would stay the course in his immigration crackdown but gave no immediate indication that the administration would defy the Supreme Court, appearing for now to avert a potential constitutional crisis between coequal branches of government.
The Venezuelan migrants' case is one of several legal battles, many involving immigration, in which Democrats and some legal observers say the Trump administration has dragged its feet in complying with unfavorable court rulings, sparking concerns that the government would openly defy the courts.
Administration officials have said they are complying with judicial orders, and have accused the courts of overstepping and interfering with the president's broad authority over foreign policy.
US District Judge Paula Xinis in Greenbelt, Maryland is investigating whether the administration violated her order to facilitate the return of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Maryland man from El Salvador who officials have acknowledged was deported there in error.
Four Democratic US Representatives arrived in El Salvador on Monday to call for Abrego Garcia's return. Last week, Chris Van Hollen, a US senator from Maryland, went to El Salvador and met with Abrego Garcia, also calling for his release.
A State Department official said in a court filing on Sunday that Abrego Garcia had been transferred from El Salvador's Terrorism Confinement Center - a mega-prison where rights groups have criticised harsh conditions - to another facility in the country, where he has his own bed and furniture.
