The Alien Enemies Act fight over President Donald Trump’s deportation authority took another turn Thursday when the Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals dismissed a challenge to his use of the old wartime law. The New Orleans-based court said the case was moot after all three Venezuelan plaintiffs had already been removed from the United States under other immigration authorities.
The ruling leaves the central question unanswered: whether Trump’s invocation of the Alien Enemies Act was lawful. The administration has used the law to target alleged members of Tren de Aragua, arguing that the gang’s activity amounts to an invasion or predatory incursion under the statute. The law, which dates back centuries, was last invoked before Trump by President Harry Truman in 1946.
Under the Alien Enemies Act, the president can detain and remove certain non-naturalized people tied to a hostile foreign power during wartime or an invasion-like situation. Trump’s team has tied that authority to its broader immigration crackdown, including efforts to speed up removals of suspected gang members. The Supreme Court had already blocked the administration from removing the detainees under the law while the case was pending, but it did not decide whether Trump had properly used the statute and instead sent the matter back to the Fifth Circuit.
That procedural history shaped Thursday’s outcome. Because the three men had been deported under other authorities, the appeals court said there was no live dispute left to decide. The panel also declined a request from the plaintiffs’ lawyers to replace the removed men with new challengers. The court acted with all 17 active Fifth Circuit judges participating.
Reactions to the decision reflected the split that has followed the case from the start. Bryce Poole, a senior legal fellow at Advancing American Freedom, called the ruling a mixed result for the Trump administration. He said the court vacated an earlier decision that had found Trump’s invocation unlawful, but did not reach the merits, leaving the bigger legality question open. Advancing American Freedom is a conservative public policy organization founded by former Vice President Mike Pence.
