In a 36-page opinion, Judge Rodriguez concluded that Trump's March 15 invocation of the Alien Enemies Act is "unlawful" and "exceeds the scope" of the centuries-old wartime law that allows the president to deport noncitizens with little-to-no due process during an invasion or predatory incursion. "The President cannot summarily declare that a foreign nation or government has threatened or perpetrated an invasion or predatory incursion of the United States, followed by the identification of the alien enemies subject to detention or removal," Judge Rodriguez wrote.

A federal district judge ruled Thursday that the Alien Enemies Act (AEA) does not permit President Trump to swiftly deport alleged Venezuelan gang members to a prison in El Salvador, extending a block on the law being used against migrants detained in South Texas. U.S. District Judge Fernando Rodriguez Jr., a Trump appointee, said the rarely used law can only be invoked when an “organized, armed force” is entering the United States, rejecting the president’s claims that he can use it against alleged members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua (TdA). The ruling from Rodriguez offered a historical deep dive into the rarely used statute — used just three times prior in U.S. history, and all during times of war — while parsing terms central to igniting the power.

A federal judge in Texas found on Thursday that President Donald Trump did not meet the necessary criteria to use the Alien Enemies Act to deport alleged Tren de Aragua members, dealing a blow to the administration as it attempts to remove criminal illegal immigrants from the country quickly. Judge Fernando Rodriguez, a Trump appointee, said in an order that Trump could still deport Venezuelan migrants detained in southern Texas using other, more routine authorities. However, Rodriguez said the Alien Enemies Act, a powerful wartime law, was not an option. “The historical record renders clear that the President’s invocation of the AEA through the Proclamation exceeds the scope of the statute and is contrary to the plain, ordinary meaning of the statute’s terms,” Rodriguez said. The Trump administration has argued that the courts lack the authority to weigh in on the president’s decision to use the Alien Enemies Act, but Rodriguez disagreed.