A Texas judge has blocked the deportation of three men the Trump administration accused of being members of a Venezuelan gang.
The Big Picture
On April 7, the Supreme Court ruled that, while the Trump administration may use the wartime Alien Enemies Act to deport members of Venezuelan street gang Tren de Aragua, the potential deportees are entitled to due process and court hearings.
The Texas case is the first test of the Supreme Court’s attempt to temper the Trump administration’s controversial use of wartime legislation to deport alleged gang members.
What To Know
On March 14, 2025, President Trump issued an executive order declaring “that all Venezuelan citizens 14 years of age or older who are members of TdA [Tren de Aragua], are within the United States, and are not actually naturalized or lawful permanent residents of the United States are liable to be apprehended, restrained, secured, and removed as Alien Enemies.”
On April 7, the U.S Supreme Court ruled that Trump’s use of the Alien Enemies Act was constitutional, but that everyone facing deportation must be allowed a court hearing.
On April 8, Judge Fernando Rodriguez Jr., a Trump nominee, refused to allow the deportation of three alleged Tren de Aragua members. The petitioners “are natives of Venezuela who are currently being held at the El Valle Detention Center in Raymondville, Texas,” he wrote.
“The Supreme Court has established that individuals detained under the Alien Enemies Act ‘must receive notice . . . that they are subject to removal under the Act,'” he added.
U.S. President Donald Trump arrives to an executive order signing ceremony in the East Room of the White House on April 8, 2025 in Washington, DC. Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images
He noted that the Supreme Court stipulated that “notice must be afforded within a reasonable time and in such a manner as will allow them to actually seek habeas relief in the proper venue before such removal occurs.”
He placed a temporary restraining order on immigration officials, who are prohibited “from transferring, relocating, or removing [the petitioners], or any other person that Respondents claim are subject to removal under the Proclamation, from the El Valle Detention Center.”
What People Are Saying
In a dissenting opinion on April 7, Supreme Court judge Sonia Sotomayor argued against the government’s use of the Alien Enemies Act in peacetime, writing: “The Government’s plan, it appeared, was to rush plaintiffs out of the country before a court could decide whether the President’s invocation of the Alien Enemies Act was lawful or whether these individuals were, in fact, members of Tren de Aragua.”
What Happens Next
Rodriguez will hold a hearing by videoconference on Friday at 1:30 p.m., when he will consider whether to extend the temporary restraining order. (Newsweek)