U.S. District Court Judge James Boasberg is refusing to lift a restraining order against the Trump administration prohibiting it from invoking the Alien Enemies Act to deport Venezuelan illegal immigrants.
The judge argued that “the President’s unprecedented use of the Act outside of the typical wartime context … implicates a host of complicated legal issues” such as whether a criminal group like the Tren de Aragua street gang constitutes a “foreign nation or government” as the Alien Enemies Act requires.
Boasberg focused primarily on the lack of due process that occurred during the arrests and deportations of the individuals. The ruling comes after five Venezuelan nationals detained by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) filed a lawsuit in which they claimed they feared imminent deportation after President Donald Trump issued a Proclamation labeling Tren de Aragua as a criminal gang that has engaged in an “invasion or predatory incursion” against the United States.
Boasberg noted that the plaintiffs had a strong likelihood of success in court based on their insistence that they are still entitled to due process. “Before they may be deported, they are entitled to individualized hearings to determine whether the Act applies to them at all,” the judge wrote.
The judge further pointed out that “Because the named Plaintiffs dispute that they are members of Tren de Aragua, they may not be deported until a court has been able to decide the merits of their challenge.”
When the Alien Enemies Act was invoked in the past, it still provided opportunities for hearings even during wartime, Boasberg argued. He noted that President Franklin D. Roosevelt “provide[d] for hearings for arrested alien enemies … in order to permit them to present facts in their behalf.”
NEW: In a lengthy screed, Jeb Boasberg just denied Trump adm motion to vacate his temp restraining order in Venezuelan terror case.
— Julie Kelly 🇺🇸 (@julie_kelly2) March 24, 2025
Oral arguments on appeal of this matter at 1:30pm today pic.twitter.com/B9KC2zavIb
Judge Boasberg did note that the Trump administration can still deport Venezuelan illegal immigrants through the regular channels.
Trump’s invocation of the Alien Enemies Act has ginned up debate over whether the law, passed in the 18th century, can apply to illegal immigrants. The original purpose of the law was to empower the president to detain or deport foreigners from countries that are at war with the United States.
The Trump administration has argued that these actions are necessary to protect public safety and to remove dangerous criminals from the country. The White House has been engaged in a back-and-forth with Judge Boasberg, who initially issued the order after over 200 Venezuelan nationals residing in the country illegally were sent to El Salvador under the legislation.
The Justice Department recently refused to grant Boasberg’s demand for more information about the flights that transported the illegals to El Salvador. The agency argued that the court should stop its “continued intrusions” into the executive branch’s authority. It further argued that the judge’s inquiries were “grave encroachments on core aspects of absolute an unreviewable Executive Branch authority relating to national security, foreign relations and foreign policy.”
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