Trump admin says Maduro capture reinforces Alien Enemies Act removals

The Trump administration cited the U.S. indictment of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in a new court filing this week, in an effort to support its argument that it had the authority to deport hundreds of Venezuelan migrants to a Salvadoran prison under a 1798 wartime immigration law. 

In the new filing, submitted earlier this week to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, the Justice Department argued that the U.S. indictment against Maduro “reinforces the Proclamation’s findings that the Maduro regime and TdA have formed a ‘hybrid criminal state’ directed by the regime,” and which they argued justified the decision to use the 1798 Alien Enemies Act law to quickly deport the class of migrants from the U.S. to El Salvador’s maximum-security confinement center, CECOT.

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“These new developments underscore the Maduro Regime’s control over TdA and TdA’s violent invasion or predatory incursion on American soil. As a result, it is even clearer that the President’s invocation of the Alien Enemies Act was part of a high-level national security mission that exists outside the realm of judicial interference.”

Prior to the Trump administration’s use of the Alien Enemies Act in March, the law had only been used three times in U.S. history – most recently, during World War II. 

Lawyers for the Justice Department argued that Maduro, who was indicted on charges of narco-terrorism conspiracy, cocaine importation conspiracy, and weapons charges in the Southern District of New York, had worked with Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua to form what they argued was a “hybrid criminal state.”

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The filing was submitted by the Justice Department in the 5th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, and comes as the Trump administration has continued to fight in court over the status of Venezuelan migrants that were deported from the U.S. to El Salvador in March.

The Supreme Court said in an April order that individuals targeted for removal under the law must also have the ability to contest their removal, and have meaningful opportunity and notice before they are deported. 

Meanwhile, lawyers for the ACLU argued the opposite – saying Maduro’s indictment “confirms that, even in the government’s view, Maduro’s alleged actions were not military, but rather criminal offenses properly handled through the justice system.” 

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“The government also fails to address why the Proclamation’s assertions are not fatally undermined by Maduro’s ouster given that the Proclamation specifically says that ‘Maduro’ and the ‘Maduro regime’ – not Venezuela as a ‘foreign nation’-direct TdA,” lawyers for the ACLU added.

The filing also previews what is almost certain to be the Trump administration’s arguments – as they continued to spar over the Alien Enemies Act removals in the U.S. District Court for D.C.

There, U.S. District Judge James Boasberg in March had issued a temporary restraining order blocking the Trump administration from its use of the Alien Enemies Act to immediately deport 252 Venezuelan migrants and alleged gang members to CECOT. (The alleged gang member status of many of the individuals has been called into question.)

Boasberg has since ordered the administration to facilitate due process for the CECOT plaintiffs who still wish to challenge their removal, as well as the ability to challenge their gang member designation.