Federal judge halts deportations under wartime powers that Trump invoked against Venezuelan gang

A federal judge blocked the Trump administration on Saturday from enforcing a sweeping 18th-century law that the president invoked just hours earlier to expedite the deportation of Venezuelan gang members from the United States.

U.S. District Judge James E. Boasberg issued an emergency order, citing the administration’s ongoing efforts to deport migrants deemed newly removable under President Donald Trump’s proclamation. The government had already begun flying some of these individuals to detention centers in El Salvador and Honduras. Earlier in the week, El Salvador had agreed to accept up to 300 migrants the administration classified as gang members.

“I cannot afford to wait any longer—I am required to act,” Boasberg said during a Saturday evening hearing on a lawsuit filed by the ACLU and Democracy Forward. He argued that a brief delay in deportations would not harm the government, as the migrants remained in custody, and ordered any planes already in the air to turn back.

The ruling came just hours after Trump declared that the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua was "invading" the United States and invoked the Alien Enemies Act of 1798. This wartime measure grants the president broad authority to take executive action and expedite mass deportations.

Historically, the act has been used only three times, all during wartime. Its last application was during World War II when it facilitated the incarceration of Germans and Italians and the mass internment of Japanese-American civilians.

In a proclamation issued just over an hour before Boasberg’s hearing, Trump argued that Tren de Aragua was effectively waging war against the United States.

"Over the years, Venezuelan national and local authorities have ceded increasing control of their territories to transnational criminal organizations, including TdA," Trump’s statement read. "This has resulted in a hybrid criminal state that is actively invading and preying upon the United States, posing a significant danger to national security."

Under the order, the administration could deport any migrant it identifies as a gang member without standard immigration proceedings and strip targeted individuals of other legal protections.

Tren de Aragua, a gang that originated in a Venezuelan prison, expanded alongside the mass migration of millions of Venezuelans fleeing economic collapse in the past decade. Trump and his allies have cast the group as the primary example of the threat posed by undocumented immigrants and formally designated it a “foreign terrorist organization” last month.

Authorities in several countries have reported arrests of Tren de Aragua members, though Venezuela’s government claims it has dismantled the gang.

According to government officials, Trump had actually signed the deportation order on Friday night. Immigration lawyers noticed an abrupt effort by federal authorities to deport Venezuelans who otherwise would not have been legally removable, prompting them to file lawsuits in anticipation of an official proclamation.

Boasberg initially blocked the deportation of five Venezuelans named as plaintiffs in the ACLU lawsuit, issuing an emergency order at 9:20 a.m. Saturday. The Trump administration immediately appealed, arguing that preventing a presidential act before it was even announced would undermine executive authority.

"If allowed to stand, this order would allow district courts to block nearly any urgent national security action upon the mere filing of a complaint," the Justice Department wrote in its appeal.

Boasberg later scheduled an afternoon hearing to consider expanding his order to cover all migrants targeted under Trump's declaration.

Deputy Assistant Attorney General Drew Ensign defended the president’s authority to use the 1798 law, pointing to a 1948 Supreme Court ruling that allowed President Harry Truman to continue detaining a German citizen under the act, three years after World War II had ended.

"This injunction would severely undermine the president’s authority," Ensign argued.

However, ACLU attorney Lee Gelernt countered that Trump lacked the legal basis to apply the law to a criminal gang rather than a recognized state. Boasberg acknowledged the legal complexity of the issue but determined that the ACLU’s argument had a strong chance of success, warranting an injunction.

As a result, Boasberg halted deportations for up to 14 days and scheduled a follow-up hearing for Friday.

The legal battle underscores the significance of Trump’s declaration and his administration’s continued push to expand executive power. Ensign contended that Congress had granted the president authority to classify "transnational" criminal organizations as threats equivalent to foreign states, particularly in response to the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

Gelernt, however, warned that Trump could easily issue a new proclamation under the same law to target other groups, such as MS-13—a gang he has frequently cited as a national security threat.