Justices Alito and Thomas Tear SCOTUS Majority for 1 a.m. TdA Ruling
‘Both the Executive and the Judiciary have an obligation to follow the law’
By Andrew R. Arthur on April 24, 2025
The Supreme Court issued an order over the weekend blocking removals of “Venezuelan men in immigration custody” detained in the jurisdiction of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas facing removal under the Alien Enemies Act (AEA) as members of the designated foreign terrorist organization (FTO), Tren de Aragua (TdA) — at 1 a.m. on Saturday morning. Justices Alito and Thomas dissented, with the latter promising to explain his reasons later. That afternoon, writing for himself and Justice Thomas, he did—and he didn’t hold back.
TdA and the FTO Designation
The Center has written extensively about TdA ever since they exploited the Biden border crisis to establish a foothold in the United States, and have repeatedly analyzed the Trump administration’s designation of the group as an FTO and the president’s decision to use the AEA to remove TdA members from this country. Here’s the Reader’s Digest version.
TdA got its start around 2013 in Tocoron prison in the Venezuelan state of Aragua, under the bloodless guidance of Hector Rustherford Guerrero Flores, alias “Niño Guerrero”.
It then expanded beyond the prison, going international when its operations stretched across Venezuela to reach the Colombian border.
https://cis.org/Arthur/Justices-Alito-and-Thomas-Tear-SCOTUS-Majority-1-am-TdA-Ruling
