New slap a Donald Trump on the immigration front. The United States Supreme Court issued an emergency order with which temporarily blocks the expulsion of about thirty Venezuelan citizensdetained in the Federal Center for Bluebonnet immigrants, in Anson, in the north of Texas. The migrants, according to the authorities, would be suspected of belonging to a Venezuelan criminal gang. At the base of the controversial attempt of repatriation, once again, there is theAlien Enemies Act: a law dating back to the end of the eighteenth century, launched in a context of war, which allows the government to stars and stripes to expel foreign citizens of countries considered “enemies”. A rare rule, which the Tycoon administration dusted down to justify a new narrow against irregular immigration.
The decision of the high court came with a dry note, as is customary in the urgent cases: “The government is invited not to proceed with the expulsion of any member of the group of prisoners, up to the new provision of the Court”. Only two judges – Clarence Thomas and Samuel Atito, both appointed during the presidency of George W. Bush – voted against the suspension. According to what reported by Wall Street Journalthe order of the court came while the transfer of migrants to the airport was already underway, in view of the repatriation.
The intervention of the Supreme Court was solicited by a series of emergency appeals presented byAmerican Civil Liberties Union (Aclu)historical organization for the defense of civil rights, which has also undertaken a legal action at three different federal courts. Lee Gelerner, ACLU lawyer, commented on the decision with relief, remembering that only a few weeks ago some migrants had already been deported to similar circumstances.
According to the Aclu, several of the Venezuelans involved had received expulsion notifications written solely in English, in which “foreign enemies” were defined. Some notices invited the recipients to prepare for the transfer already starting from Friday. During an extraordinary hearing held last night at the Federal Court of Washington, Gelerner denounced that notifications did not mention any possibility of appeal nor indicated the scheduled times to oppose the deportation.
It is not the first time that the Supreme Court intervenes on the matter. At the beginning of the month, the highest judicial body had established that the expulsions could only proceed on condition that the migrants involved had the opportunity to defend themselves in court and were put in a position to contest the measures with a reasonable notice. Yet, according to the lawyer of the Department of Justice, Drew Ensign, federal officials would be obliged to provide only a minimum notice of 24 hours and would not be required to provide detailed indications on how to challenge the expulsion decrees.
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