Migration policy: Supreme Court: Trump is allowed to deport a war law

US President Donald Trump can deport alleged foreign cartel members again on the basis of a controversial war law from the 18th century. This was decided by the Supreme Court in the United States. The plaintiffs were imprisoned in Texas and were therefore supposed to complain there and not in the capital Washington DC, the judges judged. The Supreme Court thus tipped a decision by judge James E. Boasberg, who in the “Alien Enemies Act” from 1798 had not seen and ordered a sufficient legal basis for the deportations.

The “Washington Post” wrote, the judgment of 5 to 4 voted, did not respond to the legal basis of the lawsuit. It is clear that the migrants can submit their case in Texas again. In his reasoning, judge Brett Kavanaugh emphasized that the judges agreed that the migrants should receive a judicial review. However, they are shared of where the case should be negotiated. The background is the deportation of more than 200 Venezuelans to El Salvador in March.

Trump speaks of a big day

The Trump government celebrated the judgment. President Trump wrote on his platform Truth Social in capital letters: “A big day for justice in America!” The Supreme Court strengthened the rule of law by enabling the President to secure the borders and protect the country. Minister of Homeland Protection Kristi Noem cheered that “an activist judge” could not stop the will of the American people for a safe country. Vice President JD Vance wrote that the verdict shows that an extremely left-wing judge in Washington cannot overturn President Trump’s immigration law. “This is a big defeat for the crazy and a great victory for the American people.” The Trump government had repeatedly massively attacked the judge.

Tren de Aragua declared a terrorist organization

At the time, the US government stated that the deported are members of the criminal organization Tren de Aragua. The Venezuelan government rejected this. The Tren de Aragua is a Venezuelan gang that is involved in drug trafficking, protection and human trafficking.

Trump declared the gang to a foreign terrorist organization. He argues that Tren de Aragua exercises “enemy actions” and “irregular warfare” against the US territory – and accusations that the gang also follows instructions from the government of Venezuela’s authoritarian President Nicolás Maduro. Trump has been driving a tough course in migration policy since taking office.

Law from 1798 as the basis for deportations

In order to justify the deportation to El Salvador, the Trump government mainly relies on a controversial and hardly used law from 1798: The “Alien Enemies Act” (law on foreign enemies) allows the president to have people in war or an invasion of “enemy nations” without having arrested and deported without regular procedures. The law was applied during the first and the Second World War, for example to internment German or Japanese.

In the room there was now the question of whether this law could be applied outside of a declared war or against other parties than a nation. After the defeat in front of a court in the US capital Washington, Trump’s government turned to the Supreme Court. Among other things, she argued that the decision of this court endangered the ability of the US government to pursue foreign policy. In addition, this prevents the deportation of dangerous gang members.

It is not the first time that the judges of the Supreme Court legally comment on Trump’s politics – but as a rule, it was more about technical questions. At the beginning of March, for example, the Republican had a preliminary defeat in the dispute over frozen billions of billions for development aid projects. During his first term, Trump had postponed the majority of the Supreme Court far to the right with several sacrifications.