US SUPREME COURT REJECTS TRUMP'S BID TO RESUME DEPORTATION

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Agency report

The US Supreme Court on Friday rejected an effort by the Trump administration to restart deportations of alleged Venezuelan gang members by invoking a rarely used wartime law to bypass standard legal procedures.

In a 7-2 ruling, the court dealt another blow to President Donald Trump’s push to remove suspected members of the Tren de Aragua gang under the 1798 Alien Enemies Act (AEA), which would have allowed deportations without requiring evidence of criminal activity.

The Supreme Court first intervened on April 19 to block the summary deportations of undocumented Venezuelan migrants to a prison in El Salvador.

Trump invoked the AEA in March to deport a first group of alleged Tren de Aragua members to El Salvador in March.

In Friday’s unsigned order, the court blocked plans to deport another group of detainees held in Texas, saying they were not being given enough time to legally challenge their removal.

“Notice roughly 24 hours before removal, devoid of information about how to exercise due process rights to contest that removal, surely does not pass muster,” the justices said.

They stressed that they were not deciding whether Trump could use the AEA to deport undocumented migrants.

“To be clear, we decide today only that the detainees are entitled to more notice than was given,” they said.

“We did not on April 19 — and do not now — address the underlying merits of the parties’ claims regarding the legality of removals under the AEA.”

Conservative justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito dissented.