The Trump administration argued that the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro showcases the Alien Enemies Act. The filing, submitted to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, argues that the Maduro regime and the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua (TdA) created a “hybrid criminal state” that justifies the use of the 1798 wartime law.
“The indictment reinforces the Proclamation’s findings that the Maduro Regime and TdA have formed a ‘hybrid criminal state’ directed by the Regime,” the filing says. “This significant development further refutes Petitioners’ argument that the Government no longer treats TdA as entwined with the Maduro Regime.”
“This significant development further refutes Petitioners’ argument that the Government no longer treats TdA as entwined with the Maduro Regime,” it continues, adding, “These new developments underscore the Maduro Regime’s control over TdA and TdA’ s violent invasion or predatory incursion on American soil.”
“As a result, it is even clearer that the President’s invocation of the Alien Enemies Act was part of a high-level national security mission that exists outside the realm of judicial interference,” the Trump administration argued.
In April, the Supreme Court directed the government “not to remove any member of the putative class of detainees from the United States until further order of this Court.”
Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito, joined by Justice Clarence Thomas, condemned the decision, writing, “In sum, literally in the middle of the night, the Court issued unprecedented and legally questionable relief without giving the lower courts a chance to rule, without hearing from the opposing party, within eight hours of receiving the application, with dubious factual support for its order, and without providing any explanation for its order.”
“I refused to join the Court’s order because we had no good reason to think that, under the circumstances, issuing an order at midnight was necessary or appropriate,” Alito wrote.
