U.S. Supreme Court backs Trump’s use of 1798 law to deport Venezuelan migrants

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday granted President Donald Trump’s administration the greenlight to resume deportations of alleged Venezuelan gang members under a wartime-era law — a dramatic escalation in his immigration crackdown.

In a 5-4 decision, the court lifted a Washington judge’s temporary block on using the Alien Enemies Act, a 1798 statute previously reserved for wartime emergencies. The ruling allows deportations to continue, but under strict conditions: detainees must receive proper notice and be given a chance to seek habeas relief in the correct court before removal.

Trump invoked the law on March 15, citing national security threats from alleged members of Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan gang. His administration ordered swift deportations, bypassing standard procedures. Two deportation flights carried 238 Venezuelans to El Salvador, despite an oral court order to halt them — a move that drew legal scrutiny.

Attorney General Pamela Bondi called the ruling a “landmark victory” and attacked the blocking judge, James Boasberg, as “an activist.” Trump, too, lashed out at Boasberg on social media, calling for his impeachment and labelling him a “Radical Left Lunatic.”

However, the court did not settle the core legal question: whether using the Alien Enemies Act is valid in the absence of a formal war. It also emphasized that legal challenges must proceed in Texas, where the migrants are held — not in Washington, D.C.

Civil liberties groups, led by the ACLU, filed suit arguing that the Act was misapplied and based on “sweeping assumptions.” Families of the deportees deny the gang affiliations, including the case of a Venezuelan youth football coach, allegedly misidentified because of a Real Madrid tattoo.

Justice Amy Coney Barrett joined the court’s three liberals in dissent.

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