US Appeals Court Rules Trump’s Use of Wartime Law to Deport Venezuelan Gangs Illegal

The Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals barred the Trump administration from carrying out deportations under the wartime law.

U.S. military personnel escort alleged members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua and the MS-13 gang recently deported by the U.S. government to be imprisoned in the Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT) prison, as part of an agreement with the Salvadoran government, in San Luis Talpa, El Salvador, on March 30, 2025. Secretaria de Prensa de la Presidencia/Handout via Reuters

A federal appeals court ruled on Sept. 2 that President Donald Trump had unlawfully invoked the Alien Enemies Act to deport Venezuelan illegal immigrants who were suspected of being part of a criminal gang.

In a 2–1 decision, the Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued a preliminary injunction blocking the Trump administration from using the wartime law for deportations of suspected Tren de Aragua (TdA) gang members, holding that it found “no invasion or predatory incursion” by the criminal gang Trump cited in a proclamation invoking the law.