The US Supreme Court has cleared the way for President Donald Trump to use a rarely-invoked wartime powers law to rapidly deport alleged gang members – for now.
The notice must be afforded within a reasonable time and in such a manner as will allow them to seek habeas relief in the proper venue before such removal occurs,” the justices wrote in the unsigned decision on Monday.
“The only question is which court will resolve that challenge,” they wrote.
Monday’s ruling said the challenge – brought by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) on behalf of five migrants – was raised improperly in a Washington DC court and not in Texas, where the migrants are confined.
Conservative Justice Amy Coney Barrett joined the court’s three liberal justices in dissenting from the majority ruling.
In the dissent, they wrote that the administration’s “conduct in this litigation poses an extraordinary threat to the rule of law”.
The act, last used in World War Two, grants the US president sweeping powers to order the detention and deportation of natives or citizens of an “enemy” nation without following the usual processes.
It was passed as part of a series of laws in 1798 when the US believed it would enter a war with France.
Trump called the ruling a “great day for justice in America”.
“The Supreme Court has upheld the Rule of Law in our Nation by allowing a President, whoever that may be, to be able to secure our Borders, and protect our families and our Country, itself,” he wrote on Truth Social.
A lower court had temporarily blocked the deportation of alleged Venezuelan gang members to El Salvador on 15 March, ruling that the actions under the 1798 Alien Enemies Act needed further scrutiny.
Trump has alleged that the migrants were members of the Tren de Aragua gang “conducting irregular warfare” against the US and could, therefore, be removed under the Act.
While the administration is claiming the ruling as a win, the justices mandated that deportees must be given a chance to challenge their removal.
At least 137 people have been deported by the Trump administration under the Alien Enemies Act, a move widely condemned by rights groups.
