(CTN News) – On Saturday, a federal court barred the Trump administration from deporting Venezuelan gang members under a wide 18th-century rule cited hours earlier.

U.S. District Judge James E. Boasberg understood the urgency of announcing his ruling because the government was already sending President Donald Trump’s instantly deportable individuals to El Salvador and Honduras.

300 foreign gang members were allowed in this week by El Salvador.

At a Saturday night hearing on the ACLU and Democracy Forward complaint, Boasberg said, “I am compelled to take action and cannot delay any longer.”

He ordered all airborne planes to return, saying “a minor postponement in their evacuation poses no benefit to the government.”

The decision came after Trump claimed that the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua was entering the US and utilised the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, a wartime statute that gives the president more discretion over policy and executive acts to allow mass deportation.

Three times during hostilities, the Act was utilised. It was most recently used to intern Japanese-Americans and Germans and Italians during World War II. Trump stated more than an hour before Boasberg’s hearing that Tren de Aragua was fundamentally in conflict with the US.

The president’s comments suggest that transnational criminal groups like TdA have taken over Venezuela’s national and municipal administrations over numerous years, removing their sovereignty. “The outcome is a hybrid criminal entity that is executing an invasion and predatory incursion into the United States, hence posing a major threat to the country.”

The verdict may allow the government to deport any gang member without typical immigration procedures and remove special criminal law safeguards for all targets.

On Saturday night, Attorney General Pam Bondi blasted Boasberg’s deportation stay. Bondi told reporters “this order challenges established authority concerning President Trump’s powers and endangers both the public and law enforcement.”

In a South American penitentiary, the Tren de Aragua gang evolved when millions of Venezuelans fled to better living conditions as their economy deteriorated over the past decade.

Last month, Trump and his associates labelled the gang a “foreign terrorist organisation” to symbolise the threat of illegal immigration in the US. Venezuela claims the criminal group has been disbanded, while other nations have suspected Tren de Aragua links.

Trump completed the declaration Friday evening.

Immigration lawyers filed cases quickly to stop the federal government’s rapid deportation of Venezuelans, which they were not legally allowed to do.

In a preliminary injunction issued Saturday at 9:20 a.m., Boasberg barred the Trump administration from deporting five Venezuelan plaintiffs in the ACLU petition.

They were in government detention and expected to be deported. The Trump administration argued that blocking a presidential move would weaken the executive branch.

The Justice Department appealed to uphold the injunction, allowing district judges to enjoin practically any urgent national-security measure upon complaint. Boasberg scheduled an afternoon hearing to decide whether to expand his injunction to include anyone affected by Trump’s words.

Deputy Assistant Attorney General Drew Ensign argued that the 1798 Act gives the president broad discretion to assess and address national security issues. He said the rule allowed Harry Truman to keep his German citizenship three years after the war.

Ensign said “an injunction would greatly compromise the president’s prerogatives.”

However, ACLU attorney Lee Gelernt argued that Trump cannot enforce the law against a criminal business rather than a state. Boasberg said the ACLU had a good chance of winning on those grounds, but there was no precedent. Therefore, the injunction was right.

Boasberg postponed deportation for up to 14 days and scheduled a hearing for Friday. Lawsuits, the government’s latest move to increase presidential power, emphasise Trump’s announcement’s significance.

After September 11, 2001, Ensign said Congress gave the president the power to address “transnational” matters at the state level.

Gelernt warned that the Trump administration might quickly issue a new proclamation to apply the Alien Enemies Act to another migrant organisation, such as MS-13, one of Trump’s favourite targets.

SOURCE: AP