The United States Supreme Court temporarily paused the Trump administration’s planned deportations of Venezuelan migrants who are suspected of being Tren de Aragua (TdA) gang members, under the 1798 Alien Enemies Act.
“Government is directed not to remove any member of the putative class of detainees from the United States until further order of this Court,” the order from the Supreme Court said.
Per NBC News, while the “court did not grant or deny an application filed by lawyers” for detained Venezuelan illegal migrants, it “effectively hit pause on the case.”
The court did not grant or deny an application filed by lawyers for the detainees, but effectively hit pause on the case, which affects people currently held within the jurisdiction of the Northern District of Texas.
Supreme Court Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito “dissented from the Court’s order.”
BREAKING: The Supreme Court has blocked the Trump administration from deporting foreign nationals under the Alien Enemies Act. Thomas, Alito dissent. pic.twitter.com/SsigpMnPf9
— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) April 19, 2025
America Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) attorneys for Venezuelan migrants who are accused of being TdA gang members wrote in a “Supreme Court filing” that the plaintiffs were asking “only that this court preserve the status quo so that proposed class members will not be sent to a notorious prison in El Salvador before the American judicial system can afford them due process,” according to the outlet.
As Breitbart News previously reported, the ACLU attorneys for the Venezuelan migrants asked U.S. District Judge James Boasberg to “issue a temporary restraining order” which required their clients to receive “30 days notice” before being deported from the United States.
Per ABC News, the Venezuelan migrants were reported as being held in a detention center in Texas, and in a court filing, their attorneys claimed their clients received a notice accusing them of being “a member of Tren de Aragua.”:
In a court filing Friday, the attorneys submitted a document they say is the notice their clients received Friday from immigration officials.
The document, titled “Notice and Warrant of Apprehension and Removal under the Alien Enemies Act,” says, “You have been determined to be … a member of Tren de Aragua.”
“You have been determined to be an Alien enemy subject to apprehension, restraint and removal from the United States,” the notice says. “This is not a removal under the Immigration and Nationality Act.”
“Two people with knowledge of the situation” told the New York Times that “More than 50 Venezuelans,” who were being held in a detention center in Anson, Texas, “were scheduled to be flown out of the country.”
Due to the “situation in Anson” being urgent, ACLU attorneys “mounted challenges in three different courts within five hours on Friday,” according to the outlet.
ACLU lawyers requested that Judge James Wesley Hendrix “issue an immediate order protecting all migrants in the Northern District of Texas who might face deportation under the Alien Enemies Act,” and when Hendrix declined to “grant their request,” the lawyers “filed a similar request to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in New Orleans,” according to the outlet.
In March, President Donald Trump invoked the Alien Enemies Act to allow for the expedited removal of illegal Venezuelan migrants who are accused of being TdA gang members.
The Supreme Court previously issued a 5-4 decision, lifting a block from Boasberg that prevented the Trump administration from deporting suspected illegal alien gang members under the Alien Enemies Act.
