SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
The Supreme Court overnight took issue with the Trump administration's use of the Alien Enemies Act. An early morning order temporarily blocked President Trump from deporting Venezuela's - Venezuelans under the wartime law who were held in the Bluebonnet Detention Center in Texas. NPR's immigration policy reporter, Ximena Bustillo, has been following this story. Ximena, thanks for being with us.
XIMENA BUSTILLO, BYLINE: Good morning.
SIMON: What's the order say?
BUSTILLO: Well, in a brief order issued after midnight Eastern time, justices wrote that the government is directed to not remove any member of the, quote, "punitive class of detainees from the United States until further order" from the court. These would be some of the Venezuelan migrants being held at the Bluebonnet facility in Texas. Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito dissented.
SIMON: And what spurred this order?
BUSTILLO: Well, earlier, the Supreme Court had decided that the administration could continue deporting under the act - this was a few weeks ago - but only if detainees were given due process to challenge their removal under the Alien Enemies Act. The American Civil Liberties Union Friday afternoon filed multiple documents in court that showed immigration authorities were moving quickly to restart removals under the Alien Enemies Act, despite the previous Supreme Court's request for that due process. Here's Lee Gelernt, one of the lawyers from the ACLU, who spoke with my colleague Jasmine Garsd.
LEE GELERNT: The government has now given them no notice, given them forms in English that doesn't explain to them how to contest their removal.
BUSTILLO: He said people got less than a day to contest their removal. So the ACLU filed for a request to have the courts pause the deportations at the D.C. District Court. Judge James Boasberg denied that request because he said he did not believe he had jurisdiction. That prompted the immediate appeal from the ACLU, and then the later decision from the Supreme Court.
SIMON: And, Ximena, please remind us what the Supreme Court said when the issue was first brought to them.
BUSTILLO: The Alien Enemies Act is a rarely used presidential power that Trump invoked last month, right? And it has only been previously used in times of active war, the last time being World War II. Immigrant rights groups originally sued the administration over the use of the act when over a hundred people were put on flights and sent to El Salvador, where they're now in a megaprison. Lawyers say that this resulted in mass confusion. Attorneys, even those on behalf of the government, arrived at hearings where clients were missing, and then family members learned that their loved ones were sent to El Salvador and that prison specifically because of social media posts from both the U.S. government and the Salvadoran government.
The Trump administration alleges that all people they flew there are members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua under the Alien Enemies Act. But the lawyers say that many are not, and they never got the opportunity to fight the deportations and allegations in court. During a previous use of the act, lawyers argue that those being removed during World War II still had hearing boards to make their cases.
SIMON: How does the government's latest attempt to remove people using that Alien Enemies Act line up with the Supreme Court had previously ordered?
BUSTILLO: The Justice Department argued that notices comply with previous Supreme Court's guidance on the issue. And I reached out to the Homeland Security Department last night, and they declined to comment on, quote, "counterterrorism operations," but they did say that they believe they are complying with the Supreme Court's original ruling. Still, the ACLU argues that they're not. They have since been suing the administration in each individual district court since that first ruling, and judges in several districts have blocked the deportations of people using the Alien Enemies Act. The ACLU alleges that in recent days, many Venezuelan migrants were specifically brought to that Bluebonnet facility because it is a facility in a court district where deportations have not yet been blocked. The government denies that this is their strategy.
SIMON: Ximena Bustillo, thanks so much.
BUSTILLO: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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