Around 1 AM on Saturday, the US Supreme Court issued an emergency order halting the Trump administration's attempts to transfer Venezuelan migrants to a Salvadoran prison before they can challenge their deportation. The late-night court intervention is an unusual and highly unconventional decision that could become a turning point.
«The government is ordered not to remove any members of the alleged detained group from the United States until further order of this court», — the judges stated.
The decision was made after lawyers from the American Civil Liberties Union requested emergency intervention, stating that dozens of Venezuelan migrants faced imminent deportation without the judicial review previously ordered by the judges.
Meanwhile, at least two judges — Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas — were opposed. However, the court did not wait for the writing of separate opinions and issued a decision, indicating that Judge Alito would later write his statement.
As lawyer Igor Slabykh writes, there are many other features in the decision. The court did not wait for the government's position and issued a decision without it. Moreover, the decision itself was issued before the appeal in the case was considered. After the Supreme Court's decision, the appeal was dismissed on procedural grounds.
Thus, the majority of judges made it clear that they no longer trust the administration regarding compliance with the law, including the court's own rulings.
Meanwhile, the first-instance court in Texas (Judge James Wesley Hendrix, appointed by Trump) denied interim measures, citing that the government denied the intention to deport the Venezuelans gathered in the deportation prison and the judge wanted more information. However, the Supreme Court decided otherwise and took urgent measures.
The Trump administration has already deported more than 200 Venezuelans and Salvadorans to a maximum-security prison in El Salvador, whom it considers to be gang members.
Among the deported was Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran immigrant who, according to the administration, was mistakenly deported, causing outrage. Lawyers and family members of many migrants claim that they were not gang members and did not have the opportunity to challenge the government's assertion that they were.