Trump Administration Barred from using Alien Enemies Act to Deport Migrants Without Due Process

In response to a law suit filed by undocumented Venezuelan migrants, a federal judge, appointed by President Trump during his first term, permanently restrained the Trump administration on May 1, 2025, from invoking the Alien Enemies Act (“AEC”), which is an 18th-century wartime law, as the basis to deport Venezuelan nationals the government classified as gang members from the Southern District of Texas, saying “the White House’s use of the statute was not legal.” As noted by Judge Fernando Rodriguez, Jr., "the President’s invocation of the AEA through the Proclamation exceeds the scope of the statute and is contrary to the plain, ordinary meaning of the statute’s terms” thereby precluding the administration from using the AEA and Mr. Trump's proclamation to detain, transfer, or remove Venezuelan national migrants who either live in or are detained in the Southern District.

Read more

Pro-Palestinian University Protestor Released from Federal Custody

Mohsen Mahdawi, a Columbia University Philosophy student who was arrested and detained by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (“ICE”) agents after attending his naturalization interview in Vermont has been released from federal detention while his immigration case proceeds. He had been under ICE custody since April 14, 2025.

Read more