‘Modern equivalent of a pirate or robber’: Federal judge says Trump can deport Tren de Aragua gangbangers

A federal district judge in Pennsylvania said Tuesday that President Donald Trump can invoke the Alien Enemies Act (AEA) to deport Tren de Aragua (TdA) gang members.

The ruling by Judge Stephanie Haines lifts a temporary order she had issued in April blocking the government from deporting anyone using the AEA. The judge’s Tuesday ruling only applies to Venezuelan nationals who are at least 14 years old, specifically designated as part of TdA, and not naturalized or lawful permanent residents.

Haines, who Trump appointed to the bench in 2019, found that the notorious Venezuelan gang is committing a “predatory incursion” under the AEA.

TdA “is certainly united by the common goal of causing significant disruption to the public safety…of those within the United States,” she wrote. “The court cannot help but ask: Is a Foreign Terrorist Organization like [TdA] not the modern equivalent of a pirate or robber?”

Most federal judges do not “begin the day with briefings that may describe new and serious threats to our Nation,” Haines added in her ruling. “The Court now leaves it to the Political Branches of the government, and ultimately to the people who elect those individuals, to decide whether the laws and those executing them continue to reflect their will.”

Haines is the first federal judge to find that Trump can use the AEA to remove Venezuelan gang members, The Hill reported. Trump issued an executive order on March 14 deporting Venezuelan TdA gang members in the U.S. — some of the most dangerous in the world — but federal judges in New York, Colorado, and Texas barred or temporarily paused them.

The ruling paves the way for AEA deportations to begin in the western Pennsylvania court district Haines presides over, which includes one of the largest immigration detention centers in the Northeast. Her ruling said the Trump administration must give TdA gang members at least 21 days’ notice in English and Spanish before deporting them.

The split in federal judicial opinions means the issue will likely be appealed and may end up before the Supreme Court.

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