Supreme Court stalls Trump deportations under 1798 law

The United States’ top court issued a temporary order early Saturday morning to stop the Trump administration from deporting illegal migrants under the 1798 Alien Enemies Act. Those deportations must temporarily stop until the lower court hearing the case makes a ruling, according to the court. President Donald Trump invoked the centuries-old law last month to help Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents locate and detain migrants in the country illegally with criminal records. Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito disagreed with the court majority on the Saturday injunction.

The high court ruled earlier this month that the Trump administration’s use of the Alien Enemies Act was legal so long as deportees were given the chance to challenge their removal with a habeas corpus petition.

How did Thomas and Alito disagree with the pause? Thomas joined the dissent penned by Alito early Saturday morning, describing the emergency injunction as unprecedented and premature. It’s unclear whether the high court had jurisdiction to issue the injunction, Alito wrote in the dissent.

Alito added that the case documents also offered weak evidence that alleged deportees were truly in imminent danger of removal. A government attorney told the court that there were no deportations under the Alien Enemies Act planned for the last two days of the week, according to the dissent. Literally in the middle of the night, and hours after receiving the case, the high court gave the plaintiffs legally questionable relief without giving the lower courts a chance to rule and without hearing from the opposing party, the dissent argued.

How has the Trump administration responded? Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement the White House was confident that the administration would prevail in deporting illegal foreign gang members. Radical activists brought meritless lawsuits to protect the rights of terrorists and illegal immigrants over American citizens, she wrote.

Dig deeper: Read Elizabeth Russell’s report on SCOTUS’ last ruling allowing the Trump administration to use the 1798 law.