Overview

• U.S. District Judge Stephanie Haines ruled the Trump administration may use the Alien Enemies Act to deport members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua, designated as a foreign terrorist organization.
• The judge ordered the administration to provide detainees with at least 21 days' notice in English and Spanish, along with an opportunity to challenge their deportation.
• This marks the first federal court ruling in favor of the administration's invocation of the 1798 law, which has faced legal challenges in multiple jurisdictions.
• The administration has asked the Supreme Court to lift its freeze on deportations of nearly 200 detainees, citing incidents of misconduct in detention centers as a national security concern.
• Civil liberties advocates, including the ACLU, argue the law’s application during peacetime threatens due-process protections and have vowed to appeal Haines’s decision.