Dozens of Venezuelan men told of imminent deportation under US wartime law

In recent days, many Venezuelans were brought to Texas’ Bluebonnet detention facility. (EPA Images pic)NEW YORK: Lawyers for Venezuelan men detained in Texas asked a US appeals court on Friday to block what the lawyers said were the men’s imminent deportation by the Trump administration without the judicial review required by the Supreme Court.In a court filing, lawyers for the American Civil Liberties Union said dozens of the men held at the Bluebonnet detention facility in Anson, Texas, were handed forms indicating they were classified as members of the Tren de Aragua gang and would be deported. The lawyers asked US district judge James Hendrix in Abilene, Texas, and the fifth US circuit court of appeals in New Orleans to block any such deportations.The ACLU filed a photo of one of the notices with the court.“You have been determined to be an alien enemy subject to apprehension, restraint, and removal,” read the notice. The recipient’s name was obscured, and it was noted that the migrant refused to sign it on April 18.“Upon information and belief, individuals have already been loaded on to buses,” the ACLU wrote. “This action is one of plaintiffs’ only chances to secure the judicial review that the Supreme Court held the government must provide, but that the government is now seeking to jettison.”The men’s deportation would be the first since the US Supreme Court told President Donald Trump’s administration on April 7 that it must provide notice to Venezuelan migrants it is seeking to deport under the 1798 Alien Enemies Act and give them the opportunity to challenge their deportations in court.The Supreme Court’s 5-4 decision allowed removals under that law to continue, but specified that “the 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.”Habeas corpus relief refers to the right of detainees to challenge the legality of their detention. It is considered a bedrock right under US law.Elected last year on a promise to crack down on migrants, Trump invoked the law last month in a bid to bypass normal procedures and swiftly deport alleged members of Tren de Aragua, which his administration labels a terrorist group.Asked about the planned deportations on Friday, Trump said he was unfamiliar with the particular case but added: “If they’re bad people, I would certainly authorise it.”“That’s why I was elected. A judge wasn’t elected,” he told reporters at the White House.Earlier on Friday, assistant secretary for US homeland security Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement, “We are not going to reveal the details of counter terrorism operations, but we are complying with the Supreme Court’s ruling.”The Supreme Court did not indicate how much notice should be provided. Lawyers around the country have asked that the migrants be given 30 days’ notice to allow them to contest their deportations. The Trump administration has not said publicly how much notice it intends to give the migrants.Judges in Manhattan, Denver, and Brownsville, Texas, have issued temporary orders blocking deportations under the Alien Enemies Act within their district.In recent days, many Venezuelans were brought to Bluebonnet, according to the ACLU. The facility is located in a district where such deportations have not been blocked.On Thursday, judge Hendrix denied a request for an order blocking deportations, in part because he said the government had assured him that the two individual migrants who asked for the order would not be removed.Then, on Thursday night, migrants began informing lawyers they had been asked to sign notices indicating they were Tren de Aragua members, and one said he was told he would be deported on Friday night or Saturday, the ACLU said.In a TikTok video cited in court filings, several Venezuelan men in US immigration and customs enforcement detention said they were being accused of being Tren de Aragua members and held up documents which they said they were being told to sign. The men said they were not part of the gang.A man who identified himself as Angel Cardenas said in the video the men had not been allowed to call their relatives. “They say we have to be removed this quickly because we are a terrorist threat to the country,” he said.Judge weighs contempt of courtOn March 15, the Trump administration deported more than 130 alleged members of the Tren de Aragua gang to El Salvador, citing the Alien Enemies Act, best known for being used to intern and deport people of Japanese, German and Italian descent during World War II. Many of the migrants’ lawyers and family members say they were not gang members and had no chance to dispute the government’s assertion that they were.US district judge James Boasberg in Washington, DC, swiftly blocked any further deportations under the law. Trump then called for Boasberg’s impeachment, prompting a rare rebuke from US chief justice John Roberts, who said appeals, not impeachment, are the proper response to adverse court decisions.Boasberg is now probing whether the Trump administration violated his order to return the migrants, and warned that he could hold officials in contempt of court. The justice department asked an appeals court on Friday to pause Boasberg’s investigation.The administration has been handed other setbacks to its immigration policies. A judge in Boston on Friday restricted the administration’s efforts to fast-tracking some deportations, and a Maryland judge has ordered officials to facilitate the return of a Salvadoran man wrongly deported to El Salvador. An appeals court in the case urged Trump on Thursday to ease his confrontation with the courts.

MatchPoint Times

Dozens of Venezuelan men told of imminent deportation under US wartime law

The men’s deportation would be the first since the US Supreme Court ruled that notice must be provided to Venezuelan migrants to be deported.

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