President Donald Trump may not resume summary deportations of people he deems to be part of a Venezuelan gang, a federal appeals court ruled Wednesday.
The 2-1 ruling by a three-judge panel of the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals is another blow to Trump’s effort to deploy wartime powers to quickly deport hundreds of people he claims are members of the gang, Tren de Aragua, which he has designated as a terrorist group. It maintains the decision of U.S. District Judge James Boasberg, who blocked Trump’s deportation order earlier this month amid questions about its constitutionality.
Trump has tried to invoke the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 — a rarely used law that grants the president special powers during times of war — to swiftly deport alleged gang members with little due process. Lawyers for some of the people targeted say their clients are not affiliated with the gang at all.
Wednesday’s splintered ruling featured different rationales even from the two judges who agreed to maintain Boasberg’s temporary block on Trump’s deportations: Judge Karen Henderson, an appointee of President George H.W. Bush, and Judge Patricia Millett, an appointee of President Barack Obama.
Judge Justin Walker, a Trump appointee, dissented.
The Trump administration may quickly appeal the ruling either to the full bench of the D.C. Circuit or the Supreme Court.
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