By Rich McKay
(Reuters) – A federal judge on Saturday temporarily blocked the U.S. government from deporting some Venezuelans after two non-profit groups sued saying President Donald Trump could invoke a wartime law to accelerate deportations of undocumented migrants.
The American Civil Liberties Union and another nonprofit group, Democracy Forward, filed the lawsuit earlier on Saturday.
The groups said in the lawsuit that the use of the Aliens Enemies Act of 1798 was “imminent,” which it said would be illegal as it has only been “a power invoked in a time of war, and plainly only applies to warlike actions.”
While the court did not rule on the war times act, it granted a temporary restraining order, stopping the government from deporting five Venezuelans for 14 days. The ACLU said in its lawsuit that they are seeking asylum.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Court papers show the government has appealed the judge’s temporary restraining order.
The lawsuit noted that the wartime act had only been used in the War of 1812, and World War I and World War II.
“Given the exigent circumstances that it has been made aware of this morning, it has determined that an immediate Order is warranted to maintain the status quo until a hearing can be set,” Chief Judge James Boasberg of the District of Columbia federal court, wrote in his order.
An initial court hearing was set for later on Saturday afternoon before the judge, and another hearing was set for Monday.
The ACLU and Democracy Forward will ask that the temporary restraining order be broadened to everyone in danger of removal under the act, the groups said in a joint statement.
During World War II, many Japanese Americans were forcefully detained in internment camps. The U.S. government formally apologized for the actions in 1988 and paid out reparations to living victims.
In a separate ACLU-led lawsuit, a federal judge in Washington, D.C., on Friday declined to preemptively block the transfer of 10 migrant detainees to the U.S. naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
The judge, Trump-appointee Carl Nichols, said the migrants had yet to face “irreparable harm” that would justify blocking the transfer.
The ACLU had argued the transfers violate U.S. immigration law by moving the detainees outside of the country and aim to stoke fear without a legitimate rationale. Former detainees sent there by the Trump administration recounted harsh conditions and suicide attempts in related court filings.
As of Friday, all migrants previously held at Guantanamo had been sent back to the U.S, a Justice Department attorney said at the hearing.
(Reporting by Rich McKay in Atlanta, additional reporting by Ted Hesson; editing by Deepa Babington)
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