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Supreme Court Allows Trump to Continue Using Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to Deport Immigrants

HeadlineApr 08, 2025

The Supreme Court on Monday gave the Trump administration the green light to use the 18th-century, wartime Alien Enemies Act to expel Venezuelan immigrants and asylum seekers, but said that any target for removal must have the right to a court hearing. Last month, the Trump administration sent three planes with 238 Venezuelans to El Salvador in defiance of a judge’s order. They were then transferred to a maximum-security mega-prison.

On Monday, Chief Justice John Roberts also temporarily stayed a lower court’s ruling which ordered the Trump administration to bring back a Salvadoran father to his home in Maryland after he was wrongfully sent to the Salvadoran mega-prison despite having protected status. Later in the broadcast, we’ll get an update on the case of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, whom the administration claims it’s unable to bring back to the United States.

Meanwhile, the loved ones of Andry Hernandez Romero, a gay Venezuelan asylum seeker who was also expelled to El Salvador, say they fear for Romero’s safety at the notorious CECOT mega-prison. Romero appears to have been removed because he has tattoos of crowns, one on each forearm with the words “mom” and “dad.” Experts say tattoos are not an identifier of membership in the Tren de Aragua gang, as immigration officials falsely claim.

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