The Supreme Court on Saturday hit pause on the Trump administration’s use of an 18th-century wartime law to deport Venezuelan migrants to a prison in El Salvador.
In a 7-2 emergency order just after midnight, the justices temporarily blocked deportations under the Alien Enemies Act, which Trump invoked last month, citing the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua as evidence of an “invasion.”
The ACLU filed an urgent appeal Friday, warning that another wave of deportation flights was imminent.
Venezuelan migrants react after arriving at the Simón Bolivar International Airport after their deportation from the US on April 11, 2025. REUTERS
The official portrait of the US Supreme Court taken on Oct. 7, 2022. Getty Images“The Government is directed not to remove any member of the putative class of detainees from the United States until further order of this Court,” the order said.
The hold only applies to migrants detained in Northern Texas, though other judges have separately paused deportations in New York, Colorado, and South Texas.
At least two Republican-appointed justices, Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito, dissented from the rest. Alito said he planned to release an additional statement later on.
The legal fight builds on a narrower April 7 ruling, where the justices voted 5–4 to let deportations continue — but only if migrants are given notice, a chance to challenge removal in court, and if their cases are filed in the jurisdiction where they’re held, not Washington, D.C.
Over 100 migrants have already been deported. The ACLU said more were being moved to airports Friday. A DOJ lawyer insisted no flights were scheduled that day, but added: “They reserve the right to remove people tomorrow.”
The ACLU rushed to stop the flights, giving a Texas judge just 42 minutes to respond before escalating to a higher court. A 5th Circuit panel — two Trump appointees and one Biden appointee — rejected the appeal, saying the group had acted too quickly.
Venezuela military guards stand guard in Maiquetia, Venezuela on April 11, 2025. REUTERS
A police officers gestures after the migrant flight was cleared on April 11, 2025. REUTERS
US District Judge James E. Boasberg stands for a portrait at the E. Barrett Prettyman Federal Courthouse in Washington DC on March 16, 2023. AP
Armed Venezuelan military members stand guard during the arrival of migrants from Venezuela in the South American nation on April 11, 2025. REUTERS“Petitioners gave the court only 42 minutes to act,” the panel wrote.
The Supreme Court stepped in shortly after, telling the administration it could file a formal response depending on what happens next at the appeals court.
Alito’s forthcoming statement could lay out the conservative case for allowing the deportations to resume, or another argument for why the justices should not have intervened again in this ongoing immigration dispute.
