The Alien Enemies Act, passed in 1798 when the still-new Republic feared foreign invasion, is a wartime authority providing that the President may—after a public proclamation—apprehend and remove citizens of a foreign country that is engaged in a “declared war” or “invasion or predatory incursion” against the United States. It has been used only during the War of 1812, World War I, and World War II.
On Saturday, March 15, 2025, President Trump issued a proclamation deeming the Nicaraguan gang, Tren de Aragua, to be a foreign nation or government engaged in an “invasion or predatory incursion” against the United States, and ordering the Department of Homeland Security to promptly remove its alleged members from the United States.
We filed this lawsuit the same morning, together with the National ACLU and Democracy Forward, alleging that the Alien Enemies Act had no application in this situation and violated the immigration statutes, which are explicit that they provide “the sole and exclusive procedure” by which the government may determine whether to remove an individual.
The federal court issued a temporary restraining order that morning protecting our named clients from removal. That evening, after a Saturday afternoon hearing, the court certified our case as a class action and prohibited the removal of all class members.
The government immediately appealed and sought a stay of the temporary restraining order, but did not obtain one.
Nevertheless, the Trump administration removed 137 Venezuelan immigrants that same evening, flying them to El Salvador, which had agreed to imprison them there. We believe this was a violation of the court’s order. Additionally, Salvadoran prisons are among the most dangerous in the world, where individuals in custody face denial of adequate food and water, prolonged confinement indoors in conditions so crowded and unsanitary that they must sleep standing up, and torture.
During the week of March 17, the court held a hearing and required several the government to file declarations concerning whether the court's orders were violated. The government took the startling position that it did not have to disclose information on this subject, even under seal to the judge. Meanwhile, the government also moved to vacate the TRO, which the court denied in a written opinion on Monday, March 24.
Also on March 24, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit will hear argument on the government's application for a stay of the class-wide TRO.
