Federal Judge Allows Trump Administration to Use Alien Enemies Act Against Venezuelan Gang Members — With Limits

A federal judge ruled Tuesday that the Trump administration can invoke the rarely used Alien Enemies Act (AEA) to deport illegal immigrants affiliated with the Venezuelan Tren de Aragua gang — but only under certain conditions, and not without due process, as per Fox News.

U.S. District Judge Stephanie Haines, a Trump appointee, issued a 43-page decision affirming that the administration may use the 1798-era statute to target non-naturalized, non-permanent resident Venezuelans aged 14 and older who have been specifically designated as members of a Foreign Terrorist Organization. However, she also concluded that the administration failed to provide sufficient prior notice to those individuals before deportation proceedings, thereby limiting immediate enforcement.

“Having done its job, the Court now leaves it to the Political Branches of the government, and ultimately to the people who elect those individuals, to decide whether the laws and those executing them continue to reflect their will,” Judge Haines wrote.

The decision conflicts with another federal ruling issued earlier this month by Judge Fernando Rodriguez Jr., also a Trump appointee. Rodriguez determined that while the administration can deport individuals in the U.S. illegally, it cannot invoke the Alien Enemies Act as the legal basis for removing suspected gang members.

“The president’s invocation of the AEA through the Proclamation exceeds the scope of the statute and is contrary to the plain, ordinary meaning of the statute’s terms,” Rodriguez wrote.

The rulings come after President Trump issued an executive order on March 14 titled “Invocation of the Alien Enemies Act Regarding the Invasion of the United States by Tren De Aragua.” The move was part of the administration’s broader crackdown on transnational gangs and violent crime tied to illegal immigration.

The issue has garnered international attention after U.S. authorities deported more than 250 suspected gang members, including 238 from the Tren de Aragua and 23 from MS-13, who were flown to El Salvador on March 16. El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele announced the deportees would be incarcerated in the country’s notorious CECOT mega-prison under heavy security.

Critics of the administration’s actions — including some Democratic lawmakers — have raised concerns about due process violations and the use of wartime statutes in domestic immigration enforcement.