US Supreme Court pauses deportation of Venezuelans from Texas, attorneys say clients were targeted on basis of their tattoos

The US Supreme Court on Saturday paused the Trump administrations deportation of alleged Venezuelan gang members under an 18thcentury lawUS President Donald Trump invoked the 1798 Alien Enemies Act AEA last month to begin rounding up Venezuelan migrants accused of belonging to the Tren de Aragua gang before expelling them to a maximum security prison in El SalvadorThe obscure law has only previously been used during the War of 1812 World War I and World War IIThe government is directed not to remove any member of the putative class of detainees from the United States until further order of this court the Supreme Courts brief order issued early Saturday saidThe order came after rights lawyers filed an emergency appeal to halt the deportation of migrants currently held in a facility in the southern state of TexasThe American Civil Liberties Union ACLU said in its emergency filing on Friday night that the group of Venezuelans held in Texas had been told they will be imminently removed under the AEA as soon as tonightAttorneys for several of the Venezuelans previously deported had said their clients were not members of Tren de Aragua had committed no crimes and were targeted largely on the basis of their tattoosTrump who campaigned on a pledge to expel millions of undocumented migrants has accused Venezuela of perpetrating an invasion of the United States through the entry of alleged Tren de Aragua membersThe Supreme Court said this month that anyone facing deportation under the AEA must first be given an opportunity to legally challenge their removal Imminent removal The ACLU said in its filing on Friday that the migrants in Texas were in danger of being removed from the United States without notice or an opportunity to be heardMany individuals have already been loaded on to buses presumably headed to the airport the rights group saidThe Trump administration went ahead with the initial deportations of alleged Tren de Aragua members under the AEA in March despite an order by federal judge James Boasberg blocking the moveJudges and lawmakers are now wrangling with Salvadoran officials over the fate of Kilmar Abrego Garcia a Maryland resident who was deported last month due to what the White House later said was an administrative errorThe Supreme Court lifted the block on April 7 in the same decision where it said people facing deportation are entitled to due processThe deported migrants are currently held in El Salvadors maximum security Terrorism Confinement Center a megaprison southeast of the capital San Salvador with capacity for 40000 prisonersInmates there are packed in windowless cells sleep on metal beds with no mattresses and are forbidden visitorsThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoeveratOptionskeyd0ddb8ef8f1a62a8cdd22fac27fc5ea7formatiframeheight90width728params