Appeals court blocks Trump from deporting members of Tren de Aragua gang
The ACLU successfully challenged the use of an 18th-century law previously only used during declared wars
By Landon Mion Fox News
Published September 3, 2025 2:47am EDT
A federal appeals court ruled on Tuesday that the Trump administration cannot speed the deportations of migrants accused of being members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua using an 18th-century wartime law.
In a 2-1 ruling, the Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals sided with immigrant rights lawyers and lower court judges who argued the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 was not created to be used against gangs like Tren de Aragua.
"The Trump administration’s use of a wartime statute during peacetime to regulate immigration was rightly shut down by the court," Lee Gelernt, who argued the case for the American Civil Liberties Union, said. "This is a critically important decision reining in the administration’s view that it can simply declare an emergency without any oversight by the courts."
The Alien Enemies Act was previously used only three times in U.S. history, and all came during declared wars in the War of 1812 and the two World Wars.
The Trump administration claimed that courts cannot second-guess the president's determination that Tren de Aragua was connected to Venezuela’s government and represented a danger to the U.S., which it argued warranted using the law.
The administration deported alleged Tren de Aragua members to a mega-prison in El Salvador where, officials argued, U.S. courts could not order their release.
More than 250 of the deported migrants returned to Venezuela under a deal announced in July.
In a 2-1 ruling, the court granted the preliminary injunction sought by the plaintiffs because they "found no invasion or predatory incursion" in this case.
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