"An Inquisition like Medieval times": Judges scorch Trump's use of wartime statute against immigrants
In a pair of rulings today, a federal judge in Colorado issued a temporary restraining order, and another in New York extended his TRO.
Federal judges in New York and Colorado today doubted the legality of Donald Trump’s use of a wartime statute deployed only three times in U.S. history.
Over in New York, U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein compared the Trump administration’s actions to a “secret court” or an “Inquisition like Medieval times,” then extended his prior order blocking the deportation of certain immigrants in his jurisdiction by 14 days.
“This is the United States,” Hellerstein, a 91-year-old jurist appointed by Bill Clinton, declared with indignation.
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The San Francisco-based civic engagement app 5 Calls has a phone drive to elected officials on mass deportation: The sample script mentions Trump’s use of the Alien Enemies Act.
Earlier on Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Charlotte Sweeney in Colorado issued a separate temporary restraining order also blocking the Trump administration from whisking immigrants within her jurisdiction out of the country without notice or a hearing.
Judges doubt Alien Enemies Act applies
Before Trump, U.S. presidents had only invoked a wartime statute known as the Alien Enemies Act three times in history: during the War of 1812, World War I and World War II.
The Alien Enemies Act applies only during a “declared war between the United States and any foreign nation or government” or “any invasion or predatory incursion.”
Sweeney found these words incompatible with the gang Tren de Aragua, the supposed target of the Trump administration’s crackdown.
“The Court finds these at-the-Founding definitions persuasive in demonstrating what ‘invasion’ does—and does not—mean as a matter of plain language,” Sweeney wrote in a 35-page opinion. “‘Invasions’ contemplate military action. … And at a bare minimum, ‘invasion’ means more than the Proclamation’s description of TdA’s ‘infiltrat[ion],’ ‘irregular warfare,’ and ‘hostile actions” against the United States— notwithstanding the Proclamation’s conclusory description of ‘the devastating effects of [TdA’s] invasion.’”
“Definitions of ‘predatory incursion’ likewise reveal a mismatch between what the phrase means and what the Proclamation says,” the judge added.
So did Hellerstein.
“This Proclamation is contrary to law,” Hellerstein said, referring to Trump’s March 15 invocation of the Alien Enemies Act.
In another blockbuster remark at the end of the hearing, Hellerstein told Justice Department attorney Tiberius Davis: “I think you need more than just the infiltration of gang members.”
Hellerstein extended his earlier restraining order until May 6, giving himself two more weeks before ruling on the preliminary injunction.
CBS found that 75 percent of the 238 immigrants that the Trump administration sent to a dangerous prison in El Salvador appeared to have no criminal records.