Two federal judges delivered a sharp rebuke to Donald Trump’s latest immigration crackdown, casting doubt on his use of a centuries-old wartime law to fast-track deportations of Venezuelan migrants—some of whom were whisked away to a high-security prison in El Salvador with barely a chance to argue their case.
In a ruling out of Colorado, Judge Charlotte Sweeney ordered that Venezuelans detained in the state must get at least 21 days’ notice before deportation—plus a clear explanation of their right to contest removal. Over in Manhattan, Judge Alvin Hellerstein signaled he’d likely impose a similar advance notice requirement, this time at 10 days, and challenged the legal and constitutional foundation of the whole operation.
“This isn’t some secret star chamber or medieval tribunal,” Hellerstein said pointedly during the hearing. “This is the United States.”
The legal fight centers around Trump’s invocation of the Alien Enemies Act, a law signed in 1798, designed for wartime threats. His administration is using it to justify deportations of hundreds of Venezuelan men it claims are members of Tren de Aragua, a violent criminal organization that’s now been labeled a foreign terrorist group by the U.S.
But relatives and advocates say the accusations are flimsy, and that many of those swept up never got a chance to defend themselves. The ACLU, representing the migrants, asked the courts for a 30-day notice—pointing to World War II-era standards used when the law was last seriously deployed to detain Japanese, German, and Italian nationals.
“The government is using a wartime tool in a time of peace, without respecting constitutional protections,” Sweeney wrote. She noted that simply accusing someone of gang affiliation doesn’t make them an enemy combatant.
Even the U.S. Supreme Court weighed in recently, insisting that migrants must be given a chance to challenge their deportation orders, though it stopped short of deciding how much notice they must receive.
The Trump administration, defending its policy in court, argued that swift deportations are both lawful and necessary. Justice Department attorney Tiberius Davis said deportees get at least 24 hours to object—a timeline the judges didn’t find persuasive. “This is the president’s top policy priority,” Davis said, referencing Trump’s hardline immigration platform since returning to office in January.
Meanwhile, new details emerged about an apparent misstep in the deportation machinery. Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran man who had lived in Maryland, was mistakenly deported despite a judge’s order requiring further review. The administration has acknowledged the error and claims it’s working in “good faith” to fix it, according to court filings made public this week.
For now, the fate of many Venezuelan migrants hangs in legal limbo, as courts continue to wrestle with the tension between national security claims and constitutional rights. One thing is clear: the judiciary isn’t giving the 18th century a free pass in the 21st.
