SCOTUS Blocks, for Now, New Trump Deportations

The Supreme Court on Saturday blocked, for now, the deportations of any Venezuelans held in northern Texas under an 18th century wartime law. In a brief order, the court directed the Trump administration not to remove Venezuelans held in the Bluebonnet Detention Center "until further order of this court." Reuters reports Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito dissented from the decision, which was issued just before 1am. What you need to know:

• The high court's order came in response to an emergency appeal filed Friday by the ACLU contending that immigration authorities appeared to be moving to restart removals under the Alien Enemies Act of 1798.
• It said some men had been put on buses and told they were to be deported, meaning they did not have adequate time to contest their removal. The Supreme Court had said earlier in April that deportations could proceed only if those about to be removed had a chance to argue their case in court and were given "a reasonable time" to contest their pending removals.
• Reuters notes that in that earlier order, the Supreme Court did not specify the amount of notice that should be given; various lawyers around the country have requested the migrants be given 30 days' notice.

• Following the unanimous high court order on April 9, federal judges in Colorado, New York, and southern Texas promptly issued orders barring removal of detainees under the AEA until the administration provides a process for them to make claims in court. But there had been no such order issued in the area of Texas that covers Bluebonnet, which is located 24 miles north of Abilene in the far northern end of the state.
• The ACLU's Friday filing included sworn declarations from three separate immigration lawyers who said their clients in Bluebonnet were given paperwork indicating they were members of Tren de Aragua and could be deported by Saturday.
• In one case, immigration lawyer Karene Brown said her client, identified by initials, was told to sign papers in English even though the client only spoke Spanish. "ICE informed FGM that these papers were coming from the President, and that he will be deported even if he did not sign it," Brown wrote.

• US District Judge James Wesley Hendrix, a Trump appointee, this week declined to bar the administration from removing the two men identified in the ACLU lawsuit because ICE filed sworn declarations that they would not be immediately deported. He also balked at issuing a broader order prohibiting removal of all Venezuelans in the area under the act because he said removals hadn't started yet.
• With Hendrix not agreeing to the ACLU's request for an emergency order, the group turned to District Judge James E. Boasberg in Washington, DC., who initially halted deportations in March. But the Supreme Court ruled the orders against deportation could only come from judges in jurisdictions where immigrants were held, which Boasberg said made him powerless Friday.
• ACLU lawyer Lee Gelernt said in a Friday evening hearing before Boasberg that the administration initially moved Venezuelans to its south Texas immigration facility for deportation. But since a judge banned deportations in that area, it has funneled them to the Bluebonnet facility, where no such order exists. He said witnesses reported the men were being loaded on buses Friday evening to be taken to the airport.
• "I'm sympathetic to everything you're saying," Boasberg told Gelernt. "I just don't think I have the power to do anything about it."
• The AP reports Drew Ensign, an attorney for the Justice Department, told Boasberg that people slated for deportation would have a "minimum" of 24 hours to challenge their removal in court. He said no flights were scheduled for Friday night and he was unaware of any Saturday, but the Department of Homeland Security said it reserved the right to remove people then.
• The administration is expected to return to the Supreme Court quickly in an effort to persuade the justices to lift their temporary order.

(More US Supreme Court stories.)