Tackling Illegal Immigration

 

The Trump administration has faced legal challenges in its policies aimed at dealing with illegal immigrants.

On Monday, a federal judge temporarily blocked the deportation of two alleged TdA gang members as part of a lawsuit filed on April 12.

The individuals were flagged for removal under a March 15 proclamation by Trump that invoked the Alien Enemies Act. The duo had entered the United States illegally and are being held in an ICE detention facility in Aurora, Colorado.

The lawsuit, backed by the American Civil Liberties Union, challenged Trump’s invocation of the Alien Enemies Act and argued that the illegal immigrants were denied due process.

In a previous case related to pursuing the Alien Enemies Act to remove noncitizens from the United States, according to the complaint, the Supreme Court asked the government to provide a notice “within a reasonable time.”

“To date, the government has not indicated the type of notice they intend to provide or how much time they will give individuals before seeking to remove them” under the Alien Enemies Act, the lawsuit said.

“However, in a hearing in the Southern District of Texas on Friday, April 11, the government said they had not ruled out the possibility that individuals will receive no more than 24 hours’ notice; the government did not say whether it was considering providing even less than 24 hours.”

Last month, a group of Democratic lawmakers criticized Trump’s invocation of the Act to target illegal immigrants who are alleged or confirmed foreign gang members, alleging that deploying the “archaic wartime law—not used since World War II—for immigration enforcement is yet another unlawful and brazen power grab.”

In the March 15 proclamation, Trump stated that TdA gang members are an invading force that must be deported from the country quickly to protect American citizens.

“TdA has engaged in and continues to engage in mass illegal migration to the United States to further its objectives of harming United States citizens, undermining public safety, and supporting the Maduro regime’s goal of destabilizing democratic nations in the Americas, including the United States,” the proclamation says, referring to Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.

Agencies under the Trump administration have also moved to halt illegal immigration into the United States.

For instance, on March 25, the Department of Homeland Security formally ended programs created in 2022 and 2023 that allowed roughly half a million citizens from Venezuela, Haiti, Cuba, and Nicaragua to request entry into the United States together with their families.

“These programs do not serve a significant public benefit, are not necessary to reduce levels of illegal immigration, did not sufficiently mitigate the domestic effects of illegal immigration, are not serving their intended purposes, and are inconsistent with the administration’s foreign policy goals,” the agency stated in a March 25