Supreme Court Rules Trump May Use 1798 Law to Deport Illegal Alien Gang Members

In a 5-4 decision Monday, the Supreme Court granted President Donald Trump’s request to vacate a lower court’s ruling barring the administration from using the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to immediately deport alleged members of the Tren de Aragua gang (TDA) from the U.S.

SCOTUS ruled that the Trump administration may use the 1798 law to swiftly deport alleged illegal alien gang members, lifting Judge James Boasberg’s March 15 order.

Trump-appointed Justice Amy Coney Barrett sided with the three left-wing justices against Trump’s right to use the Alien Enemies Act for deportations.

Until now, the Act had been invoked just three times in U.S. history, according to Fox News—”during the War of 1812, during World War I, and most recently, World War II.”

Lawyers for the Trump administration had urged the court to vacate the lower court ruling, arguing in a Supreme Court filing that the lower court orders “rebuffed” their immigration agenda, including their ability “to protect the Nation against foreign terrorist organizations and risk debilitating effects for delicate foreign negotiations.”

On March 15, a total 261 illegal aliens were deported to El Salvador, most of whom were removed through either the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 or Title 8.

Of those deported, 101 were reportedly TDA Venezuelans, 21 were Salvadoran MS-13 gang members, and two were MS-13 ringleaders and “special cases” for El Salvador. Their offenses allegedly included “kidnapping, sexual abuse of a child, aggravated assault, prostitution, robbery and aggravated assault of a police officer.”

Judge Boasberg, an Obama appointee and key Russia hoax player, ordered an immediate stop to the deportations so he could have more time to consider whether Trump’s use of the Alien Enemies Act was legal. Incredibly, the judge ordered planes that were already in the air to turn back to the United States.

That did not happen, and Boasberg later threatened to hold certain Trump administration officials in contempt of court for refusing to provide information about the deportation flights and the number of individuals sent to El Salvador.

Boasberg had “pressed the government to disclose the names, locations, and agencies of individuals involved in the removals, as well as any internal conversations with officials who may have been monitoring the court proceedings,” according to Fox.

Government lawyers didn’t comply with the requests, citing national security concerns.

Boasberg is still considering potential contempt charges against the administration officials and a preliminary injunction hearing is scheduled for April 8.