MANHATTAN (CN) — A federal judge on Wednesday ordered that the Trump administration must provide notice and a court hearing to immigrants the government seeks to deport under the Alien Enemies Act.
U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein, a Bill Clinton appointee in the Southern District of New York, told government attorneys that there is a “danger of imminent removal” for noncitizen Venezuelans in the United States who are being detained by ICE throughout the country for suspicion of being gang members.
“They need to be protected,” Hellerstein said at a court hearing Wednesday morning. “They need to be guaranteed a notice, guaranteed a hearing before they can be removed.”
The judge granted a temporary restraining order that protects any prospective deportee in the Southern District of New York from being removed prior to receiving their due process; Hellerstein ruled that he doesn’t have jurisdiction to require that relief outside of his district, however.
His order came in a case brought by the American Civil Liberties Union, which on behalf of two Venezuelans being held in federal immigration custody in New York challenged the Trump administration’s use of the Alien Enemies Act to deport supposed South American gang members.
The group filed its lawsuit on Tuesday, a day after the U.S. Supreme Court greenlit the Trump administration’s continued removal of suspected gang members under the Alien Enemies Act, but required that deportees must be given sufficient notice prior to removal.
Hellerstein’s Wednesday order was effectively an extension of that Supreme Court ruling, and paved the way for the ACLU to file similar lawsuits around the country to enforce these basic protections for noncitizens threatened by the Trump administration.
The restraining order will last until April 22, when the parties will reconvene to argue for its extension.
President Donald Trump invoked the Alien Enemies Act last month to deport more than 200 alleged noncitizen gang members to an El Salvadorian mega prison. His administration claims that Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua is invading the United States as a “hybrid criminal state.”
“Whether or not you’re a gang member, the Alien Enemies Act cannot be used under these circumstances,” ACLU attorney Lee Gelernt told the court Wednesday, adding that it has only been used three times in American history during active wars, and is “not supposed to be used during peacetime against a gang.”
“This is certainly not an invasion of U.S. territory,” Gelernt said.
Hellerstein ultimately declined to rule on the legality of the administration’s use of the Alien Enemies Act, deeming that an issue for a later date. For now, his relief is limited to the handful of accused gang members in ICE detention in at least one New York jail.
Government attorney Drew Ensign could not tell the judge exactly how many Venezuelans are detained, but he guessed the number is “probably less than 10.”
The ACLU’s case in New York lists two named plaintiffs, identified by their initials G.F.F. and J.G.O., who were pulled off planes bound for El Salvador after being suspected of being Tren de Aragua members.
The civil rights group has already filed a similar lawsuit in the Southern District of Texas, where they also received relief on Wednesday that barred future deportations until further notice.
The Trump administration’s flippant attitude toward deportations stirred controversy from courts, activists and civil rights groups around the country.
Reports have indicated that federal immigration officials are targeting individuals for removal based on tattoos and other superficial purported gang-affiliated features. And some federal judges have decried the administration’s lack of evidence before initiating the deportation process.
In March, the Trump administration mistakenly deported a Maryland father named Kilmar Abrego Garcia to El Salvador despite a judge barring his removal, finding that he would be persecuted by local gangs in the country.