Trump Administration Suffers Dual Legal Setbacks: Two Courtroom Losses in One Day

WASHINGTON — On Tuesday, two federal judges barred the Trump administration from utilizing the AlienEnemiesAct of 1798 to deport Venezuelans, confining their injunctions to Colorado and a district in New York.

U.S. District Judge for the Southern District of New York Alvin K. Hellerstein found that President Donald Trump’s invocation of the wartime law was likely not valid, because there is no “existence of a ‘war,’ ‘invasion’ or ‘predatory incursion,’” as required by the Alien Enemies Act statute.

A similar order was made by U.S. District Judge for the District of Colorado Charlotte N. Sweeney, who noted the Trump administration likely exceeded the scope of the Alien Enemies Act in its use of it.

Hellerstein, appointed during Former President Bill Clinton’s tenure, also reiterated in his order Anyone in the United States — whether they are citizens or not — has the right to receive due process.

He observed that the Venezuelans affected by the Alien Enemies Act were sent to CECOT, a well-known detention facility in El Salvador, offering little chance for legal proceedings or repatriation.

Hellerstein noted that the process for deportation continues, encompassing not just those involved in this case but also others, despite being halted solely by orders from this court and other federal tribunals. He further explained that these individuals are sent to El Salvador—a nation compensated specifically to accept our immigrants—although it is neither their homeland nor where they desire to go. Instead, they find themselves imprisoned indefinitely in what’s known as an exceptionally vile detention centre, cut off completely from communication with legal representatives, loved ones, or acquaintances.

Two Venezuelan men, fearing they would fall under the new proclamation, filed a lawsuit in the Southern District of New York. The case has since expanded into a class action covering all Venezuelans who might be affected by the proclamation.

Sweeney, nominated by ex-President Joe Biden, additionally instructed that the lawsuit should encompass a class of individuals.

The New York area in which Trump officials would be barred from using the wartime law includes New York City, the boroughs of Manhattan and the Bronx and Dutchess, Orange, Putnam, Rockland, Sullivan and Westchester counties.

Multiple rulings against administration

This is the third preliminary injunction granted by federal judges against Trump’s use of the wartime law in a court’s district. The president invoked the Alien Enemies Act to subject for removal any Venezuelan national 14 and older with suspected ties to the Tren de Aragua gang.

Tuesday’s rulings are akin to another from Texas , where Trump-appointed Judge Fernando Rodriguez Jr. struck down the Trump administration’s use of the wartime law to deport Venezuelan nationals in the Southern District of Texas.

The American Civil Liberties Union, leading the charge against the Trump administration's invocation of the Alien Enemies Act in March, commended the preliminary injunction issued in New York.

“The court joined several others in correctly recognizing the president cannot simply declare that there’s been an invasion and then invoke a wartime authority during peacetime to send individuals to a Gulag-type prison in El Salvador without even giving them due process,” said Lee Gelernt, lead ACLU attorney on the case.

The ACLU has filed lawsuits against the use of the wartime law in federal courts in Colorado, Georgia, Nevada, New York, Pennsylvania, Texas and Washington, D.C.

Nevada Current is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Nevada Current maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Hugh Jackson for questions: info@nevadacurrent.com .

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