Judge backs Trump’s invocation of Alien Enemies Act for deportations But the ruling also emphasizes the need for more due process in advance of the deportations. Kyle Cheney
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/05/13/alien-enemies-act-trump-ruling-00346312
A federal judge for the first time has backed President Donald Trump’s invocation of the Alien Enemies Act, a war power Trump has used to deport Venezuelans he claims are part of a criminal gang.
U.S. District Judge Stephanie Haines, a Trump appointee to the bench in Pennsylvania, upheld Trump’s March 14 proclamation declaring that Tren de Aragua, a violent gang based in Venezuela, is mounting an “incursion” into the United States.
Though that “incursion” looks nothing like the military invasions the founders envisioned when they passed the Alien Enemies Act in 1798, Haines said old statutes can be applied to modern developments in the world. And she compared Tren de Aragua to the “military detachments or pirates” that pillaged the United States when the law was passed.
It’s a rare legal victory for Trump on the most aggressive plank of his mass deportation effort. Judges in New York, Colorado and Texas have reached the opposite result, concluding in effect that the gang is not mounting the type of government-backed “incursion” needed to justify the president’s invocation of the act. Almost simultaneously with Haines’ ruling, a second judge in Texas barred Alien Enemies Act deportations without 30 days notice.
But Haines’ ruling is double-edged. Despite backing Trump on the invocation of the Alien Enemies Act, her ruling sharply rejected the administration’s primary goal: to deport those targeted by the Alien Enemies Act quickly — sometimes within hours — with limited due process.
Indeed, Haines said the Trump administration had fallen woefully short of its obligation to allow those targeted by the Alien Enemies Act to raise legal challenges. The judge said that the administration must allow individuals subject to the act 21 days to file lawsuits challenging their deportations, up from the 12 to 24 hours the Department of Homeland Security says is sufficient.
If the administration abides by that three-weeks notice requirement, Haines’ ruling permits the officials to deport a single individual, identified only by the initials A.S.R., who is being held in Haines’ western Pennsylvania district. That individual had sued on behalf of himself and other potential targets of the Alien Enemies Act residing in western Pennsylvania, urging the court to block his summary deportation.
The ruling creates a split among district courts that is likely to require higher courts — and, eventually, the Supreme Court — to resolve the dispute.
Notably, top intelligence officials in the Trump administration have rejected the idea that Tren de Aragua is closely linked to Venezuela’s government, concluding that it is a loose association that has been splintered by government crackdowns and has limited organized leadership.
But Haines, deferring to Trump’s authority on matters of national security, noted that Trump has designated the gang as a terrorist organization, and she described the group as “bent on destabilizing the United States” and “flooding the United States with illegal narcotics” — and using those narcotics as “weapons” against American citizens.
Trump’s purpose in invoking the Alien Enemies Act — which has been applied only three other times in American history — was to sidestep many of the legal protections that can often slow down the deportation process. Haines’ requirement of a 21-day window for challenges — matching the requirement embraced by other federal judges who have rejected Trump’s assertion of the Alien Enemies Act — undercuts that goal.
Other judges in Texas and Washington are eyeing similar questions about the proper invocation of the law.
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