TBA Law Blog


Posted by: Stacey Shrader Joslin on May 5, 2025

U.S. District Judge Fernando Rodriguez Jr. in Brownsville, Texas, last week blocked the Trump administration from using the Alien Enemies Act to deport alleged gang members, according to Bloomberg Law. The move applies only to detainees in the Southern District of Texas. In the opinion, Rodriguez found that the administration exceeded the scope of the act by using it to deport alleged Venezuelan gang members while the U.S. is not being invaded by a foreign force. Read the opinion. In related news, the administration last week asked the U.S. Supreme Court to allow it to deport 600,000 Venezuelans. That effort seeks to lift a California-based federal judge’s ruling that the administration did not follow proper procedure in ending temporary protected status (TPS) for the group. The Hill has more on that story.