In a late-night move early Saturday, the U.S. Supreme Court slammed the brakes on the Trump administration’s fast-track deportations of migrants using a rarely used wartime law.
The court issued an emergency order that stops deportations—at least for now—until it decides on an urgent appeal from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). The ACLU warned that another round of deportation flights was already being set into motion.
Two conservative justices, Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito, disagreed with the decision.
At the center of the case is a centuries-old law: the Alien Enemies Act, passed in 1798. It allows the government to deport non-citizens during times of war or if there’s an “invasion.” The Trump administration claims that Venezuelan gang members—specifically Tren de Aragua—count as an invading force.
The administration already used the law last month to deport more than 100 migrants to El Salvador, where they were reportedly sent to a notorious megaprison. The ACLU argued that more people were about to be sent there without a trial or a chance to argue their case in court.
“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 Supreme Court wrote in its unsigned order.
This decision applies only to migrants detained in the Northern District of Texas. Other courts have already paused deportations in New York, Colorado, and South Texas.
As the ACLU scrambled to block the next wave of deportations, they filed emergency requests with several courts Friday. According to them, migrants were already being driven to the airport. Deputy Assistant Attorney General Drew Ensign pushed back, saying, “no deportation flights were scheduled for Friday or Saturday.” But he added, “they reserve the right to remove people tomorrow.”
The legal fight has been fast and chaotic. On Friday afternoon, the ACLU gave U.S. District Judge James Hendrix—appointed by Trump—just 42 minutes to stop the deportations before appealing.
The 5th Circuit Court of Appeals, in a unanimous decision, rejected the ACLU’s emergency appeal, calling it too early. “Petitioners gave the court only 42 minutes to act,” the judges wrote. All three judges on that panel were appointed by Presidents Trump and Biden.
In a separate case, the ACLU also tried and failed to get a judge in Washington, D.C.—Obama appointee James Boasberg—to block deportations. Boasberg had already found probable cause to hold the Trump administration in criminal contempt for disobeying his earlier order to halt deportations and even reverse flights that were already in the air. That contempt process is on hold, thanks to another appeals court ruling Friday.
For now, the Supreme Court has stopped the deportations. But the fight is far from over.
