Blocking the removal of immigrants without a due process sets the possibility of another challenge to the power of the courts by the Trump administration.
The U.S. Supreme Court ordered a temporary suspension of the deportation of two Venezuelan men, using the antique wartime law previously called in to send hundreds of people to El Salvador.
The country’s Supreme Court issued an order earlier on Saturday suspending the deportation of immigration custody men after lawyers filed an urgent petition on the grounds of an immediate removal risk that was removed without justice. The ruling sets the potential for another challenge to the Trump administration’s strength in courts, and even a full-scale constitutional crisis.
“The government has been instructed not to remove members of the presumed class of detainees from the United States until further orders from this court,” Justice wrote in a signature order.
Two of the nine justices on the Supreme Court, conservatives Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito, opposed the decision.
The court issued its ruling following an emergency appeal filed by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), claiming that immigration authorities appear to be moving to resume removals under the Alien Enemy Act of 1798.
Trump’s use of wartime laws last used during World War II, by claiming that it was “engaging in irregular wars” in the United States, prompted a fierce debate over the constitution’s ability to curb the enforcement of the constitution in order to accus members of the Tren de Aragua gang of Venezuela.
The Supreme Court said in April that deportation could only proceed if those about to be expelled had the opportunity to discuss their case in court and were given “reasonable time” to challenge the pending removal.
“We are deeply reassuring that the court temporarily blocked the removal. These individuals were in the pressing danger of spending the rest of their lives in a brutal Salvador prison without a legitimate process.”
The White House has not commented on the ruling yet.
Two federal judges have refused to step in to halt its latest deportation lawsuit, and the US Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals is not yet acting and urge the ACLU to file a petition directly with the Supreme Court.
According to the ACLU, some men had already been loaded onto the bus and were said to be deported.
During the hearing Friday, government lawyers said they were unaware of the plan by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) that day, but there could be deportation on Saturday.
“I spoke with DHS. I’m not aware of the current plans for the flight tomorrow, but I was told to say I reserve the right to eliminate people tomorrow,” Justice Department attorney Drew Ensign told the district court in another related case.
In March, the Trump administration deported 238 Venezuelan gang members and 23 members of the 23 Salvador gang members to El Salvador’s largest security prison.
The deportation occurred despite a federal US judge granting a temporary suspension of expulsion.
Among those deported were Kilmer Abrego Garcia, a US resident of Maryland, secured a protective order that would prevent the process from proceeding.
The Trump administration later admitted to mistakenly deporting Garcia, but refused to comply with another Supreme Court order to bring him back to the United States.
Democratic Sen. Chris Van Hollen, who met Garcia in El Salvador on Thursday, said he returned to the United States, saying it was “very clear” that the president “blatantly, grossly… violated an order from the Supreme Court.”
“This case isn’t just one man as important as it is. It’s about protecting the fundamental freedoms and fundamental principles of the Constitution that protect everyone who lives in America,” Van Hollen said.