Five migrants sue Trump administration over using wartime powers to send them to hellhole jail
Five Venezuelan men are suing the Trump Administration over using the Alien Enemies Act to deport migrants accused of being terrorists without their day in court.
In a class action lawsuit, one filed in Texas and the second in New York, the American Civil Liberties Union or ACLU sued the Trump Administration.
'We filed an emergency lawsuit against the Trump administration to stop removals under the Alien Enemies Act — a 1798 wartime act the administration is trying to use to bypass immigration law,' the ALCU of Texas tweeted.
'Cruelty to migrants is not a policy solution.'
Back in March, the Trump administration invoked the Alien Enemies Act, a war-time law that allows the president to suspend due process to deport enemies of the US.
Trump used the law to fly Venezuelan men accused of being members of the criminal organization Tren de Aragua and deliver them to an El Salvador supermax prison.
Three of the men behind the ACLU legal filings are in immigration detention in the Lone Star State, while two others are in New York.
They deny being affiliated with TdA, as law enforcement refers to the Venezuelan prison gang turned international mob.
Salvadoran police officers escort alleged members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua recently deported by the U.S. government to be imprisoned in the Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT) prison, as part of an agreement with the Salvadoran government, at the El Salvador International Airport in San Luis Talpa, El Salvador, in this handout image obtained March 16
Despite the lawsuit only being a few hours old, judges in Texas and New York have already temporarily paused the deportations of Venezuelans in those two states while the case is heard.
The ACLU is asking the courts to determine if Trump has any legal authority to invoke the Aliens Enemy Act and use it against Venezuelans.
The liberal organization took Trump to court just days after the Supreme Court of the United States handed Trump a partial victory on the Aliens Enemy Act.
SCOTUS ruled on Monday the US could continue the deportation under certain conditions.
The country's highest court, in an unsigned 5 - 4 ruling, ruled that the Trump administration can use the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to deport alleged Venezuelan gang members.
It said that detainees 'must receive notice after the date of this order that they are subject to removal under the Act.
'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.'
