Judge bars federal government from using Alien Enemies Act to deport Venezuelans from Colorado [View all]
Source: CPR News
A Colorado federal judge has barred the federal government from deporting a group of roughly 100 Venezuelans detained at Aurora’s GEO immigration detention center to El Salvador under the Alien Enemies Act until they either complete their cases in immigration court or higher courts weigh in.
The ACLU of Colorado sued the Trump administration on behalf of two Venezuelan men – plus more than 100 other Venezuelans detained – asking they not be deported to a Salvadoran prison known for human rights abuses and disappearances.
District Judge Charlotte Sweeney granted a temporary restraining order against the Trump administration last month. The administration appealed that decision, and the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals denied the request, saying the questions raised about the Alien Enemies Act will likely be taken up by the high court.
In a 25-page ruling issued Tuesday afternoon granting a preliminary injunction in the case, Sweeney took aim at several of the government’s arguments that they should be immune from judicial review on the Alien Enemies Act because it’s an executive power privilege.
“This argument runs afoul of the separation-of-power principles respondents purport to value,” she wrote. “Federal courts and judicial review are a feature—not a defect—of this Nation’s constitutional structure. And simply because federal courts issue rulings unfavorable to the government is no basis, standing alone, to dispute their constitutional authority or power.”
The federal judge was incredulous that the federal government pushed back on judicial branch authority overall.
“Respondents’ arguments are threadbare costumes for their core contention: As for whether the Act’s preconditions are satisfied, that is the President’s call alone; the federal courts do not have a role to play,” she wrote. “That sentence staggers.”
Read more: https://www.cpr.org/2025/05/06/judge-bars-alien-enemies-act-deportation-colorado/
This is the third court (second today) to rule on the Alien Enemies Act
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