Immigration attorneys are scrambling to seek emergency relief from a federal court in Texas after learning that Venezuelan migrants detained there received notices that they are subject to President Donald Trump’s Alien Enemies Act proclamation issued last month.
Two migrants say in a lawsuit brought by the American Civil Liberties Union that they and others were transferred in the last few days to Bluebonnet Detention Center in Anson. The ACLU is hoping a judge in the case will certify the lawsuit as a class action so that any orders the judge gives can cover more migrants than just its two clients.
On Friday, the ACLU shared with the court a photo of a notice a detainee at Bluebonnet received that informed him that he is removable under the Alien Enemies Act because he is deemed by the executive branch to be a member of the gang Tren de Aragua and, therefore, an alien enemy.
The ACLU said it was aware of several men who received the notice, and a separate immigration attorney with the Legal Aid Society submitted a declaration in the case saying she had a client who called her and said he too received the notice.
“Plaintiffs re-emphasize that proposed class members are being told that they will be imminently removed under the AEA, as soon as tonight,” the ACLU attorneys wrote in bold letters to the court on Friday.
Both plaintiffs in the case deny ties to Tren de Aragua.
Trump invoked the Alien Enemies Act, a rarely used wartime law, last month and has said it gives federal authorities the ability to bypass standard immigration laws and quickly deport members of the gang.
After Trump deported what the ACLU has said were at least 137 Venezuelans under the Alien Enemies Act to a Salvadoran prison last month, the president was met with a stream of legal challenges that are still playing out in court in various states.
At one point, the Supreme Court chimed in and said that Trump could use the Alien Enemies Act to deport Tren de Aragua members for now but that all migrants subject to removal under it must be given notice and due process. The Supreme Court did not weigh in on whether Trump ultimately had the authority to use the Alien Enemies Act for deportations of foreign gang members, but pending lawsuits could be on track to present that question to the justices.
Three Venezuelan migrants have, for instance, filed a lawsuit in Texas saying they were not gang members, that Trump improperly invoked the Alien Enemies Act, and that they were at risk of being removed under it.
Judge Fernando Rodriguez, a Trump appointee, responded by granting a temporary restraining order that blocked the government from deporting anyone detained in the Southern District of Texas under the Alien Enemies Act proclamation and set a hearing for April 24.
The notices the immigration lawyers warned about on Friday were handed out to migrants detained in the Northern District of Texas.
SUPREME COURT LIFTS ORDER AGAINST TRUMP USING WARTIME LAW FOR DEPORTATIONS
Judge Allen Hellerstein, a Clinton appointee, granted a similar temporary order in a lawsuit brought by two Venezuelans that applied to those detained in the Southern District of New York. Hellerstein set a status conference for April 22.
The ACLU has also attempted to revive a class action lawsuit it brought in Washington, D.C., over the deportation law.
