Appeals Court Panel Blocks Trump’s Use of Wartime Law Targeting Venezuelan Immigrants

By Jacob Knutson

Venezuelans removed from the U.S. under the Alien Enemies Act boarding a flight from El Salvador to Venezuela in July 2025. (Photo: El Salvador Presidency/Handout/Getty Images)

A three-judge appeals court panel Tuesday rejected President Donald Trump’s invocation of a rarely used 18th-century wartime law to remove hundreds of Venezuelan immigrants from the U.S.

The 2-1 decision from the New Orleans-based Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals — one of the most conservative courts in the country — marks the first time an appellate court has ruled against Trump’s invocation of the Alien Enemies Act (AEA). 

Trump invoked the AEA in March and summarily removed hundreds of Venezuelan men he claimed were members of Tren de Aragua (TdA), a transnational criminal organization based in Venezuela. The Trump administration did not give the men the ability to challenge the designation or their transfer to a notorious megaprison in El Salvador. 

Multiple investigations have found that a majority of those removed by the Trump administration did not have criminal records in the U.S., Venezuela or El Salvador and never violated U.S. immigration laws.

The panel ruled that Trump improperly claimed that the Venezuelans targeted by his declaration were carrying out an “invasion” or “predatory incursion” against the U.S. 

“TdA was not the kind of organized force or engaged in the kind of actions necessary to constitute an invasion or predatory incursion,” Judge Leslie Southwick, a George W. Bush appointee, wrote for the 5th Circuit panel’s majority.

Judge Irma Ramirez, a Biden appointee, in part joined Southwick’s opinion, while Judge Andrew Oldham, a Trump appointee, wrote a dissent of over 100 pages arguing that courts should not be able to “secondguess the Executive’s determination.”

The panel’s rejection comes after several district court judges have similarly denied Trump’s invasion claims.

The administration could now appeal the ruling to the full Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals or to the Supreme Court, which has previously ruled that the government violated the due process rights of the Venezuelan migrants it targeted with the law.

The hundreds of men removed under the AEA remained in the Salvadoran prison for months without the ability to challenge their imprisonment. The men were flown to Venezuela in July as part of a prisoner swap between the U.S., El Salvador and Venezuela.