WASHINGTON — The Trump administration today asked the U.S. Supreme Court to lift the temporary restraining order (TRO) blocking it from deporting immigrants using the Alien Enemies Act.
The American Civil Liberties Union, Democracy Forward, and the ACLU of the District of Columbia are challenging President Trump’s invocation of the 1798 wartime act to bypass immigration law.
On Wednesday, in a 2-1 ruling, a federal appeals court denied the administration’s request to lift a TRO that was issued earlier by a federal district court.
“We will urge the Supreme Court to preserve the status quo to give the courts time to hear this case, so that more individuals are not sent off to a notorious foreign prison without any process, based on an unprecedented and unlawful use of a wartime authority,” said Lee Gelernt, deputy director of the ACLU’s Immigrants’ Rights Project and lead counsel.
“The president is not king. He cannot deport people without due process, and he cannot invoke wartime powers — used only three times in history — during peacetime without accountability,” said Skye Perryman, president and CEO of Democracy Forward. “This was never about immigration policy. This is about the president's flagrant violation of the law, and his Justice Department's search for a court that will rubber stamp it. Judges across our country, nominated by Democrats and Republicans and confirmed by the U.S. Senate, are consistently ruling against this administration's lawlessness, despite its attacks on the judiciary and legal profession. We will continue to meet this administration in court to protect people and our democratic values.”
“No president is above the law. Due process exists to protect everyone from abuse of power, and Trump is no exception. Misusing a centuries-old wartime statute to bypass immigration protections is as unprecedented as it is lawless,” said Scott Michelman, legal director of the ACLU of the District of Columbia.
Case background is here.