Judges extend orders against deportation flights, including wartime act on violent Venezuelan gang members.
A D.C. federal judge on Friday extended a restraining order against the Alien Enemies Act, a 1798 wartime immigration law the Trump administration enacted to deport Venezuelan nationals who are alleged Tren de Aragua (TdA) gang members in the U.S. illegally.
U.S. District Judge James Boasberg ruled the extension will run through April 12.
Also on Friday, in a separate ruling, a federal judge in Boston blocked the deportation of migrants to countries where they have no existing relationship without a chance to go into court to contest that move.
Last week, Boasberg issued a temporary restraining order blocking President Donald Trump from using the Alien Enemies Act to deport Venezuelan nationals, stating he needed more time to consider the merits of the case.
In a bench ruling, he ordered all planes carrying Venezuelan nationals or other deportees under the Alien Enemies Act be returned.
The administration later filed an emergency request for the U.S. appeals court to intervene.
There will be additional hearings on April 8.
Supreme Court justices were asked earlier Friday to review the restraining order, with Trump administration lawyers claiming the lower courts’ orders contradict the president’s agenda.
Lawyers claim the order limits the administration’s ability to “protect the Nation against foreign terrorist organizations.”
U.S. Acting Solicitor General Sarah Harris called the lower court’s orders “flawed,” claiming they threaten the government’s “sensitive negotiations” with foreign powers.”
Harris added there could be “serious and perhaps irreparable harm” if the orders are not immediately reviewed by the Supreme Court.