Trump-appointed judge allows Alien Enemies Act targets’ class-action suit

A federal judge allowed the target of deportation under the law of Foreign Enemies in the southern province of Texas to move forward with a collective lawsuit against the administration of President Donald Trump.

The American boycott judge, Fernando Rodriguez Junior, who was appointed by Trump during his first term, issued a 12 -page order on Thursday that gives a group of the two “class certificate”.

Rodriguez wrote: “The extraordinary conditions of this issue provide a convincing justification for using a measure of a collective action approved by Qaed 23,” Rodriguez wrote.

The Trump administration has argued that the two afflutures did not have a “basis” to create a protected legal class “to solve whether the foreigner has been correctly included in the category of foreign enemies – it cannot be determined in general.

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The judge looked at whether the individual “sessions of the hearings” will be required for all the targeted Venezuelan citizen under the law of foreign enemies in the southern province of Texas to determine whether they were members of Treen de Aragua, the Venezuelan gang that was appointed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs that was appointed as a foreign terrorist organization in March. “Rodriguez’s individual body procedures for treatment repeatedly require joint legal cases, unjustified judicial resources,” said Rodriguez.

Trump issued an executive order on March 14, “calling on the law of foreign enemies regarding the invasion of the United States by Trine de Aragoa.”

Rodriguez indicated that about 100 people were detained in the southern region of Texas and “appointed as foreign enemies under the announcement.”

“The current matter raises many common issues in the law, but it also raises some issues related to the fact that requires individual sessions to solve,” Rodriguez wrote on Thursday. “With regard to the first, the legal petitions challenge the president’s summons to AEA through the advertisement.

“They are primarily arguing that the pre -conditions required for the AEA application are not present, that the intended application of the advertisement and AEA violates the rights of foreign enemies appointed under the constitution, and that the measures that the respondents seek to follow violate the Immigration, Nationality and Convention against Torture.

More than 250 suspect gang members arrive in El Salvador on the plane on March 16, 2025, including 238 alleged members in the Venizuella Treen de Aragua gang and 23 members of the MS-13 gang who were deported. (Presidency Al Salvador/Al -Nashra/Anadolu via Getty Images)

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“These issues apply to any individual appointed by the respondents as a foreign enemy under the advertisement and are subject to removal under AEA,” the matter said. “A favorable result of any of these legal theories will be proven with regard to one individual, which is applied equally with other Venezuelan foreigners appointed as foreign enemies under the announcement. As a result, the court finds that the two afflictions determine at least one dispute at least in favor of the health of each member in the category.”

The judge admitted that, at the same time, “the petitioners cannot deny that any specific member of TDA will require an individual decision on facts.”

“It is true that the court must define the legal standard in force, and this analysis will be applied to each member of the class. But the hearings themselves will continue individually, as the relevant facts differ for each person.”

According to Reuters, the Trump administration deported at least 137 Veneers from the Valley detention center in Raymondville, Texas, under the law of foreign enemies on March 15, but relatives of dozens of men say they are not members of TDA.

In a separate opinion of 36 pages, Rodriguez also said on Thursday that the Trump administration cannot rely on the law of foreign enemies to deport Venezuelan citizens who are a member of TDA anyway because the presence of the gang in the United States cannot be classified as a “invasion” or “predatory penetration” under federal law.

“The court nor the two parties ask that the executive authority can direct the detention of foreigners and remove them who participate in criminal activity in the United States,” said Rodriguez, who was nominated by Trump in 2018. “The president’s summons to AEA through the advertisement exceeds the scope of the statute and it contradicts the normal and usual meaning of the terms of the statute.

Seventeen alleged members in the Venizuella Treen de Aragua gang and members of the MS-13 gang deported to El Salvador on March 31, 2025. (Presidency Office Press Salvador/Anadolu via Getty Images)

“The court concludes that the president’s summons to AEA through the declaration exceeds the scope of the statute, and as a result, it is illegal,” Rodriguez wrote.

In mid -April, Rodriguez gave a temporary temporary matter preventing the Trump administration from removing the Venezuelan who were held at the Raymondville detention center. The judge later expanded his ruling to protect all Venezuelan detained in his judicial area, which includes the cities of Houston, Galvston, Larido, McCalalin, Brunsville, Corpus Christie, Victoria, from deportation.

On Thursday, Rodriguez’s ruling is important because it is the first permanent judicial matter against the administration using AEA and claims that the president misuse the law. The Trump administration claims that TDA behaves at the request of the Venezuelan government.

“The announcement does not indicate any threat from a group of individuals who enter the United States in the direction of Venezoz,” Rodriguez wrote. “Thus, the language of advertising cannot be read as describing the behavior that falls in the meaning of” conquest “for AEA purposes.”

The judge also indicated that the ruling was used only during the two world wars and the 1812 war.

If the administration appeals, you will first go to the Fifth Court of Appeal in New Orleans. This is among the most conservative appeals courts in the country, and it is also a ruling against what it saw as overcoming immigration issues by both Obama and Biden administrations.

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The Supreme Court was already weighing once on the issue of deportation under AEA. Judges saw the alleged migrants that they were members of gangs should give “reasonable time” to compete to remove them from the country.

Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.