The U.S. Supreme Court on Saturday temporarily blocked the deportations of any Venezuelans held in northern Texas under an 18th-century wartime law.
In a brief order, the court directed the Trump administration not to remove Venezuelans held in the Bluebonnet Detention Center “until further order from this court.”
Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito dissented.
The high court acted overnight following an emergency appeal from the American Civil Liberties Union, contending that immigration authorities appeared to be moving to restart removals under the Alien Enemies Act (AEA) of 1798. The Supreme Court had said earlier in April that deportations could proceed only if those about to be removed had a chance to argue their case in court and were given “a reasonable time” to contest their pending removals.
“These men were in imminent danger of spending their lives in a horrific foreign prison without ever having had a chance to go to court,” ACLU lawyer Lee Gelernt told CBS News in a statement on Saturday. “We are relieved that the Supreme Court has not permitted the administration to whisk them away the way others were just last month.”
Read the full report on CBS News.
