A divided federal appeals court panel ruled Wednesday that the Trump administration could not immediately use the 1798 Alien Enemies Act to quickly deport suspected members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua.

The 2-1 ruling was handed down two days after a contentious hearing before the DC Circuit Court of Appeals, in which the Justice Department tried to lift a 14-day stay imposed by DC US District Judge James Boasberg.

During the hearing, Judge Patricia Millett harshly questioned the Trump Justice Department about its handling of the deportations — at one point saying, “Nazis got better treatment under the Alien Enemies Act [during World War II] than has happened here.”

The 18th century law at issue has only been used three other times in US history and affords a president broad wartime authority over the detention and removal of noncitizens.

In her contribution to the court’s 92-page order and statements, Millet wrote: “There is neither jurisdiction nor reason for this court to interfere at this very preliminary stage or to allow the government to singlehandedly moot the [migrants] claims by immediately removing them beyond the reach of their lawyers or the court.”

Millett, appointed to the bench by President Barack Obama, also doubled down on her World War II reference from Monday’s hearing, adding in her statement that “a former ‘member of the Nazi Party’ not only received a hearing on his eligibility for removal, but also had his case heard by the Supreme Court.”

“The government’s removal scheme denies Plaintiffs even a gossamer thread of due process,” she concluded, adding that Boasberg’s two restraining orders “have appropriately frozen the status quo.”

The panel’s swing vote, George H.W. Bush-appointed Judge Karen L. Henderson, noted that the text of the statute enacted by President John Adams referred to “a form of hostilities against the United States by another nation-state … Migration alone did not suffice.”

“And the district court entered the [temporary restraining order]s for a quintessentially valid purpose: to protect its remedial authority long enough to consider the parties’ arguments,” she added, ruling that Boasberg’s orders should stay in place.

Trump-appointed Judge Justin Walker — who had hinted that the case would be appealed to the US Supreme Court during questioning — dissented, writing that Boasberg’s restraining orders against the Trump admin “affirmatively interfered with an ongoing, partially overseas, national-security operation.”

“The district court told the Executive Branch to immediately stop executing a plan to repatriate or remove Venezuelan nationals pursuant to ‘[a]rrangements [that] were recently reached’ with El Salvador and ‘representatives of the Maduro regime [in Venezuela],'” Walker said.

“Not only that, the district court ‘commanded an unprecedented action’ from the bench: The district judge ordered aircraft to be turned around mid-flight in the middle of this sensitive ongoing national-security operation.”

Boasberg had tried to halt federal authorities from flying three planes filled with purported Tren de Aragua members to a mega-prison in El Salvador — but the aircraft arrived there hours after the judge’s March 15 ruling, with the Trump administration claiming the order came too late to recall the planes.

Walker also stated that the government’s case is “likely to succeed,” given that the plaintiffs brought the case in the wrong venue and under the wrong statute, when they should have made a “habeas petition.”

“The named Plaintiffs here are all confined in Raymondville, Texas, which is in the federal Southern District of Texas,” Walker said of the five Venezuelan migrants who filed the lawsuit and claimed they’re not members of Tren de Aragua.

“Deportees are already petitioning for habeas corpus in Texas,” he added of other complaints. “At least one petitioner has already secured a hearing date in the Southern District of Texas, plus a [temporary restraining order] preventing his removal in the interim.”

The Venezuelan migrants are being repped by the American Civil Liberties Union, which had argued in favor of Boasberg’s temporary restraining order during the Monday appeals hearing.

Walker also cited “a sworn declaration” to the district court made by a senior State Department official who claimed the restraining orders posed a risk to diplomatic efforts to secure the deportations of gang members to El Salvador and Venezuela.

“The Government,” Walker said, “likely faces irreparable harm to ongoing, highly sensitive international diplomacy and national-security operations.”

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.