A federal judge in New York rebuked the use of President Donald Trump of the Alien Enemies Law to deport the alleged members of migrant gangs without due process, comparing it with a medieval inquisition.
The American district judge Alvin Hellerstein, at an audience on Tuesday, temporarily extended his order of April 9 in which he temporarily blocked the detainees detained migrants in the Southern District of New York to be deported without due process.
Last month, the Trump administration triggered a legal battle when it invoked the Alien enemies law, a eighteenth-century war authority used to eliminate non-citizens with little or less process, to deport two flat planes of migrant gangs to the members of Cecot Mega-Prison in El Salvador by arguing that the United States of the Venezuelan Gang de Aragua is a “criminal hybrid.”
An official of the application of immigration and customs of the United States acknowledged that “many” of the men deported on March 15 lack criminal records in the United States, but said that “the lack of specific information about each individual actually highlights the risk they raise.” The authorities have said that they have used the tattoo brands of migrants as one of the factors that identify them as gang members.
“This is the United States of America,” said Hellerstein on Tuesday. “People are being expelled from the country due to their tattoos.”
The judge also criticized a lawyer from the Department of Justice for suggesting that due process is a “flexible standard.”
“The law is clear: if he is kicking a person, he gives them the opportunity to defend himself,” said the judge. “You can’t kick someone because of association.”
The military personnel of the United States Escort, claimed that the members of the Venezuelan Gang Train of Aragua and the MS-13 gang deported recently by the United States government will be imprisoned in the Prison of CECOT, on April 12, 2025.
Secom/via Reuters
While Judge Hellerstein reserved his decision on potentially issuing a preliminary court order to block some removals, he said “serious problems” with the recent use of Trump of the AEA, including the practice of sending migrants to El Salvador, where they could face inhuman conditions.
“This proclamation is contrary to the law,” he said.
The relief that Hellerstein granted is limited to approximately a dozen migrants currently detained in some New York counties.
Meanwhile, in Colorado, the United States District Judge, Charlotte Sweeney, issued a temporary order on Tuesday that prohibits the administration of using the law to deport non -citizens currently within that state, which also requires that non -citizens subject to the elimination of AEA receive at least three weeks of warning before deportation.
Judge Sweeney, in order, criticized the Trump administration for trying to eliminate two men in a way that she said she is “poor and cannot compete with due process.” According to the judge, the notices used by the Trump administration did not provide men with a reasonable amount of time to act in due process and were only provided in English.
“The court has serious concerns that the petitioners would be given a notice that is committed to the due process to challenge the determination,” he wrote.
The judge also doubted the legitimacy of Trump’s proclamation that invokes the use of the Alien Enemies Law, writing that the plaintiffs would probably demonstrate that the proclamation violates the immigration and nationality law and humanitarian protections.
