One Judge Finds A Way To Uphold The Alien Enemies Act Removals

Yahoo

14-05-2025

For the first time, a federal judge looked at Trump's invocation of the Alien Enemies Act to remove Venezuelans, and found a way to (kind of, sort of) agree.
Judge Stephanie Lou Haines for the Western District of Pennsylvania ruled both that President Trump had complied with the Alien Enemies Act when he invoked it to remove more than 100 Venezuelans to an El Salvador detention camp, but that he needs to give people he designates as 'alien enemies' three weeks notice before doing so again.
The decision — likely to face immediate appeal to the 3rd Circuit by the ACLU — could have real impact from a practical standpoint. Haines' district covers ICE's Moshannon Valley Processing Center, a hub for undocumented migrants in the Northeast at which several people who were removed under the Alien Enemies Act in March had been held.
The decision itself is somewhat odd.
Haines, a Trump appointee, found that the White House had correctly described a 'predatory incursion' by a foreign government into the United States when it designated Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan gang with some operations in the U.S., a terrorist organization and accused it of being in thrall to Caracas. That last part — that TdA is an arm of the Venezuelan government — is at the President's discretion to decide, Haines found.
It's a win for the White House — sort of. Haines, as mentioned, is directing the administration to give alien enemy deportees three weeks notice before removing them. Despite that, it strikes me that she ratified the most clearly ridiculous part of Trump's AEA invocation, that the country is under invasion by the Venezuelan government. There's always the cop out that it's a political question left up to the President to decide, but the claim here is such cynical nonsense that it's hard for me to see it surviving as it makes its way up the courts. But then again, I'm only one man and have an admittedly limited perspective: If you live in the United States and observe the Venezuelan government conducting a predatory incursion in your area, please let us know by emailing [e-mail].
Until he gets answers from the Justice Department and the Trump White House on the 'naked corruption' at the heart of Trump's decision to accept a luxury jet from Qatar to retrofit as the next Air Force one, the Senate minority leader is placing a hold on all DOJ political nominees. There are currently three Justice Department political nominees awaiting confirmation, but the NYT reports Chuck Schumer's hold could impact others. Holds significantly slow down, but do not block, nominees.
The $400 million gift comes as President Trump is visiting the Middle East this week and is expected to meet with Qatari officials to announce an arms deal.
'This is not just naked corruption — it is also a grave national security threat,' Schumer said during floor remarks Tuesday. 'Until the American people learn the truth about this deal, I will do my part to block the galling and truly breathtaking politicization at the Department of Justice.'
Schumer also called on the DOJ's FARA unit to 'disclose all activities by Qatari foreign agents inside the U.S. that could benefit' from Trump or his business ventures.
It's not just Senate Democrats unnerved by Trump's acceptance of such a transparently corrupt gift.
'I'm not a fan of Qatar. I think they have a really disturbing pattern of funding theocratic lunatics who want to murder us, funding Hamas and Hezbollah. And that's a real problem,' Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) said in an interview with CNBC Tuesday. 'I also think the plane poses significant espionage and surveillance problems. We'll see how this issue plays out but I certainly have concerns.'
The Supreme Court chief justice made the 'endangered' remarks and condemned 'trashing the justices' without mentioning Donald Trump or recent events directly, as is typical for John Roberts and other justices. During his conversation with Georgetown University Law Center Dean William Treanor, Roberts also lamented that not enough young people are learning civics in school.
The key quotes from the convo:
On criticism of SCOTUS: 'It is a good thing so long as it's not trashing the justices,' Roberts said. 'The court has obviously made mistakes throughout its history, and those should be criticized so long as it is in terms of the decision and not ad hominem against the justices.'
On the 'endangered' rule of law front: 'I think you're talking about strengthening the rule of law. One area where it is most endangered is young people,' he said, later adding, 'We are developing a situation where a whole group of young people is growing up having no real sense about how our system of justice works.'
More: 'The notion that the rule of law governs is the basic proposition, and again certainly as a matter of theory but also as a matter of practice, we need to stop and reflect every now and then how rare that is — certainly how rare throughout history and rare in the world today,' he said.
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