LAST UPDATE | 16 May

THE US SUPREME Court has rejected the Trump administration’s appeal to quickly resume deportations of Venezuelans under an 18th century wartime law.

The justices heard an emergency appeal from lawyers for Venezuelan men accused of being gang members, a designation that the administration says makes them eligible for rapid removal from the United States under the Alien Enemies Act (AEA) of 1798.

The court had already called a temporary halt to the deportations from a north Texas detention facility in a middle-of-the-night order issued last month.

Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas, two of the most conservative members of the court, dissented.

Responding with a post on his Truth Social platform, President Donald Trump said:

“THE SUPREME COURT WON’T ALLOW US TO GET CRIMINALS OUT OF OUR COUNTRY!”

The case is among several making their way through the courts over Trump’s proclamation in March calling the Tren de Aragua gang a foreign terrorist organisation and invoking the 1798 law to deport people.

The case centres on the opportunity people must have to contest their removal from the United States, without determining whether Trump’s invocation of the law was appropriate.

“We recognise the significance of the Government’s national security interests as well as the necessity that such interests be pursued in a manner consistent with the Constitution,” the justices said in an unsigned opinion.

At least three federal judges have said Trump was improperly using the AEA to speed up deportations of people the administration says are Venezuelan gang members.

On Tuesday, a judge in Pennsylvania signed off on the use of the law.

The court-by-court approach to deportations under the AEA flows from another Supreme Court order that took a case away from a judge in Washington DC, and ruled detainees seeking to challenge their deportations must do so where they are held.

The justices said in April that people must be given “reasonable time” to file a challenge.

The court has rejected the 12 hours the administration has said would be sufficient but has not otherwise spelled out how long it meant.

District Judge Stephanie Haines ordered immigration officials to give people 21 days in her opinion in which she said deportations could legally take place under the AEA.

The Supreme Court also made clear today that it was not blocking other ways the government may deport people.