WASHINGTON – The Trump administration is urging the Supreme Court to not block the deportation of Venezuelans accused of being members of the crime gang Tren de Aragua.
President Donald Trump declared Tren de Aragua a overseas terrorist group and ordered the deportation of its alleged members underneath the Alien Enemies Act.
However the excessive court docket temporarily blocked the removals early April 19 underneath what known as an administrative keep, whereas Venezuelans combat their deportations in court docket.
Solicitor Basic John Sauer said in a filing hours later that the federal government solely had 42 minutes to answer to the Venezuelans’ emergency enchantment to the Supreme Court. He urged the court docket to not acknowledge the “irregular” enchantment or grant “extraordinary” reduction the Venezuelans search.
“These aliens are Venezuelan nationals who’re unlawfully current in the USA and topic to elimination underneath different authorities, however who the federal government has decided are members of the overseas terrorist group Tren de Aragua and thus topic to elimination pursuant to the AEA,” Sauer wrote. “This Court docket ought to deny candidates’ extraordinary request.”
The case is one among a number of pending towards the Trump administration wielding the 1798 Alien Enemies Act, after two flights on March 15 carried tons of of alleged members of Tren de Aragua and MS-13 to a infamous jail in El Salvador.
One case focuses on Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran immigrant who the administration acknowledged was eliminated by mistake however refused to return to Maryland.
One other case includes Venezuelan immigrants seeking hearings to contest their gang membership.
“We’re assured within the lawfulness of the Administration’s actions and in finally prevailing towards an onslaught of meritless litigation introduced by radical activists who care extra concerning the rights of terrorist aliens than these of the American individuals,” White Home press secretary Karoline Leavitt mentioned in an announcement.
A Venezuelan migrant deported from the USA gestures whereas helped to disembark on arrival at Simon Bolivar Worldwide Airport in Maiquetia, Venezuela on March 28, 2025.
In the latest Venezuelan case, the American Civil Liberties Union argued in a number of courts that deportations must be halted as a result of males have been already loaded on buses and have been instructed they’d be deported.
“These males have been in imminent hazard of spending their lives in a horrific overseas jail with out ever having had an opportunity to go to court docket,” Lee Gelernt, an ACLU lawyer, mentioned in an announcement. “We’re relieved that the Supreme Court docket has not permitted the administration to whisk them away the way in which others have been simply final month.”
The Supreme Court docket ordered each side to submit written arguments whereas the deportations are paused.
“The Authorities is directed to not take away any member of the putative class of detainees from the USA till additional order of this Court docket,” the justices mentioned in an unsigned resolution.
Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito opposed the order.
Sauer argued that the Venezuelans’ request to the excessive court docket was “fatally untimely” as a result of they left out decrease courts earlier than asking the justices for reduction.
“This Court docket ought to deny the applying,” Sauer wrote. “Candidates’ request for reduction is fatally untimely, as each the decrease courts on this case acknowledged.”
This text initially appeared on USA TODAY: Trump admin asks Supreme Court to resume deportations of Venezuelans
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