Donald Trump’s administration suffers legal setback
When the Boston-based 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals declined to overturn a judge’s order preventing the prompt deportation of illegal immigrants to a nation apart from their own, such as El Salvador or Libya, Donald Trump’s administration was dealt a twin legal setback on Friday.
In a 7-2 ruling on Friday, the Supreme Court also denied the administration’s attempt to restart the swift deportation of Venezuelan citizens under the Alien Enemies Act, a 1798 legislation that is seldom used.
The courts have been one of the primary obstacles to the legislative agenda of the second Trump administration since the November 2024 elections, when Republicans won a majority in both houses of Congress and the White House.
The termination of probationary federal employees, the freezing of billions of dollars in foreign assistance, and the prohibition on transgender people serving in the military are just a few of the legal setbacks the administration has experienced.
A nationwide injunction issued on April 18 by U.S. District Judge Brian Murphy prohibiting the swift deportation of illegal immigrants to countries other than their country of origin without first considering their safety concerns was upheld by the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday.
Using the Alien Enemies Act, the Trump administration has sent suspected members of the criminal organization Tren de Aragua from Venezuela to a super prison in El Salvador.
The 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals voiced “concerns” in its decision about the Trump administration’s intentions to deport people to a nation other than their country of citizenship and “the irreparable harm that will result from wrongful removals in this context.”
The Trump administration’s plea to begin speedy deportations of Venezuelan nationals under the Alien Enemies Act, which the president used in March to target alleged Tren de Aragua gang members, was also denied by the Supreme Court on Friday.
Only conservative Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito dissented from the majority opinion, joining liberal Justices John Roberts, Brett Kavanaugh, Amy Coney Barrett, and Neil Gorsuch in rejecting the decision.
Attorney and National Immigration Litigation Alliance executive director Trina Realmuto praised the ruling of the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in a statement.
She continued, “These protections are especially important given that we now know that just last week the government was actively seeking to deport people to Libya.”
“The Supreme Court just ruled that the worst murderers, drug dealers, gang members, and even mentally insane people who came into our country illegally are not allowed to be forced out without going through a long, protracted, and expensive legal process, one that will take, possibly, many years for each person, and one that will allow these people to commit many crimes before they even see the inside of a courthouse,” Trump wrote in response to the Supreme Court’s decision on his Truth Social website. Our beloved American citizens will suffer greatly as a consequence of this decision, which would allow more criminals to enter our nation.
Additionally, it will incite more criminals to enter our nation illegally, causing chaos and mayhem wherever they go. I was elected to accomplish something, but the US Supreme Court is preventing me from doing it. Sleepy Joe Biden let MILLIONS of criminal aliens enter our country with no “procedure,” but we must go through a drawn-out and lengthy PROCESS to remove them. In any case, I want to congratulate Justice Thomas and Justice Alito for trying to defend our nation. America is facing a difficult and perilous day.
The president and conservative pundits have been incensed at Friday’s decisions, which might lead to a more extensive conflict between Trump and certain judicial factions.
