Topline
A federal appeals court ruled that President Donald Trump’s administration cannot fast-track the deportation of Venezuelan migrants from the country using an 18th-century law that has previously only been used during wartime, dismissing the administration’s argument that the migrants were part of an “invasion.”
In a 2-1 decision, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 could not be applied to the case of these Venezuelan migrants—who the Trump administration alleges are gang members.
Bush appointee Leslie Southwick and Biden Irma Carrillo Ramirez were in the majority while Trump appointee Andrew Oldham dissented.
In ruling, the judges said they found “no invasion or predatory incursion” by a foreign government and therefore issued a preliminary injunction to prevent the removal of migrants under the wartime law.
The President and administration officials have not yet commented on the ruling.
“A country’s encouraging its residents and citizens to enter this country illegally is not the modern-day equivalent of sending an armed, organized force to occupy, to disrupt, or to otherwise harm the United States,” the judges said.
This is a developing story.