Two Venezuelan migrants in New York who say they were wrongly identified as members of the gang Tren de Aragua and now fear imminent removal from the U.S. sued the Trump administration on Tuesday, arguing the way the president is using the Alien Enemies Act to deport them is unlawful on its face.

The lawsuit is brought by the American Civil Liberties Union, the New York Civil Liberties Union and the Legal Aid Society on behalf of two Venezuelan migrants from New York. (The ACLU wants to make the lawsuit a class action but will need the judge’s approval first.)

One of the plaintiffs, identified only as J.G.O, said he was arrested by ICE officers at his home in Orange County, New York, in January. The ACLU alleges he was sent to multiple immigration detention facilities: first in New York, then Pennsylvania and then in Texas. Then, they say, he was sent back to New York before he was put on a plane to be deported.

He was taken off that plane just after Chief U.S. District Judge James Boasberg’s issued an order that temporarily halted the removal of migrants under the Alien Enemies Act while litigation played out in Washington, D.C.

But the Supreme Court lifted Boasberg’s order on Monday, with the justices allowing the deportations under the wartime act to continue. But, as the ACLU noted Tuesday, the high court also ruled that the migrants are entitled to challenge their detention within a “reasonable” amount of time.

J.G.O., who fled Venezuela in 2022 after protesting the Maduro regime, has a hearing May 2 where he is expected to present evidence that he is not a member of Tren de Aragua. Without immediate action by the court in New York halting the removal, the ACLU says that hearing may never come.

The Alien Enemies Act can only be invoked during wartime, during an invasion or due to “predatory incursion” by a foreign government. The Trump administration has labeled Tren de Aragua an invading force, and argues its use of the 18th century law to remove people it deems members of the gang is simply part of its broader effort to secure U.S. borders.

But Trump is ignoring how the law treats “alien enemies,” more broadly speaking, the ACLU claims.

For example, U.S. code addressing process for “alien enemies” only permits their removal when the alleged “alien enemy” has actively refused or neglected to depart the U.S. Other existing laws state that the government must give so-called “alien enemies” time to settle their affairs ― and volunteer to depart. At minimum, they must be given a hearing.

The Immigration and Nationality Act “sets out the sole mechanism” to remove noncitizens, and the way Trump is using the Alien Enemies Act “creates an alternative removal mechanism outside of the immigration laws set by Congress,” the lawsuit states.

Trump’s application of the Alien Enemies Act is also illegal because it does not provide “adequate safeguards” to ensure that those detained for deportation won’t be returned to a country where they will likely face persecution. The Foreign Affairs Reform and Restructuring Act of 1998 bars the U.S. government from sending noncitizens back to countries where they would likely be tortured, according to the ACLU.

The Fifth Amendment states that “no person shall be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law,” and by denying the Venezuelan migrants “meaningful procedural protections to challenge their removal, [Trump’s Alien Enemies Act] proclamation violates due process.”

In addition to declaring Trump’s proclamation unlawful, the ACLU wants the court in New York to grant a temporary restraining order that would prevent any further removal proceedings.

The Justice Department did not immediately return a request for comment Tuesday.