Venezuelan migrants wait in limbo as Supreme Court readies for deportation showdown 

WASHINGTON (CN) — As immigrant advocates fight to return people deported on government flights, the Supreme Court will soon decide if the Trump administration can continue sending migrants to the notorious Salvadoran prison now housing other detainees.

Over the weekend, the justices rushed to temporarily bar the government from removing migrants to Centro de Confinamiento del Terrorismo, or CECOT, issuing a rare order just before 1 a.m. on Saturday. With Justice Clarence Thomas and Justice Samuel Alito in dissent, the court prohibited the government from deporting migrants under wartime authority.

“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 short order stated.

Nearing midnight on Saturday, Alito issued a statement lambasting his colleagues for hurriedly weighing in before the appeals court. He dismissed the migrants’ arguments that emergency intervention was necessary and claimed that the court had acted outside of its authority.

“In sum, literally in the middle of the night, the court issued unprecedented and legally questionable relief without giving the lower courts a chance to rule, without hearing from the opposing party, within eight hours of receiving the application, with dubious factual support for its order, and without providing any explanation for its order,” the George W. Bush appointee wrote.

A group of Venezuelans filed for emergency relief at the Supreme Court on Friday afternoon, claiming that the administration planned to deport them without due process.

“Without this court’s intervention, dozens or hundreds of proposed class members may be removed to a possible life sentence in El Salvador with no real opportunity to contest their designation or removal,” the men wrote.

Immigrant advocates justified pushing the appeal to the justices before the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals had ruled, arguing that their removal was imminent.

The high court previously previously ruled that migrants must be given prior notice of their removal under the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, along with time for an appeal.

Under the act, the president can detain and deport natives and citizens of an enemy nation. It has been used only three times in the nation’s history: during the War of 1812, World War I and World War II. Migrants can only appeal their detention through a habeas action, used to challenge detention.

“The notice must be afforded within a reasonable time and in such a manner as will allow them to actually seek habeas relief in the proper venue before such removal occurs,” the court wrote.

Venezuelan migrants told the Supreme Court its order isn’t being followed.

“Emergency relief is necessary not only to preserve the status quo and prevent permanent and irreversible harm to applicants, but also to preserve the courts’ jurisdiction, in light of the government’s position that it need not return individuals, even those mistakenly removed,” the men wrote.

In March, the Trump administration utilized the wartime authority to deport over a hundred migrants they say are affiliated with the Tren de Aragua gang, which U.S. officials describe as a de facto arm of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro’s regime.

The wrongful deportation of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran citizen living in Maryland with his U.S. citizen wife and their son, became a flashpoint in the administration’s deportation fight. His case, according to the ACLU, demonstrates why the justices need to prevent any further removals for now.

The civil rights group, which represents the migrants, said the government loaded detainees on buses, presumably headed to the airport, on Friday afternoon. However, the buses were subsequently turned around after the emergency appeal was filed.

The government didn’t deny that dozens of migrants were scheduled to be removed to El Salvador on Friday evening; the administration maintains it cannot retrieve deportees from the country.

“Under these circumstances, applicants’ counsel, who have an ongoing duty toward the putative class members, would have been derelict in not seeking emergency appellate relief,” Lee Gelernt, an attorney with the ACLU, wrote.

U.S. Solicitor General John Sauer said the application was “fatally premature” and “manifestly improper.” Sauer claimed that the migrants were members of the foreign terrorist organization Tren de Aragua, and therefore removable under the Alien Enemies Act.

The Trump administration said that the migrants had adequate time to file the required habeas claims. At the very least, Sauer argued that the justices should clarify that migrants could still be removed under another deportation authority — Title 8.

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