United States: Supreme Court extends ban on deporting Venezuelan immigrants, Trump fumes

US President Donald Trump expressed outrage on Friday at the conservative-majority Supreme Court, which dealt him a new setback by extending his ban on deporting Venezuelan immigrants under an emergency law.

"The Supreme Court won't let us remove criminals from our country," Donald Trump charged in a message in capital letters on his Truth Social network. The country's highest court "won't let me do what I was elected to do," he complained.

An appeal blocked several times

The Republican has made combating illegal immigration a top priority, speaking of an "invasion" of the United States by "criminals from abroad" and speaking extensively about immigrant deportations. But his mass deportation agenda has been thwarted or slowed by multiple court rulings.

Several federal courts and appeals courts—as well as the Supreme Court itself on April 19—have already temporarily blocked the use of the 1798 "enemy alien" law, previously used exclusively in wartime, on the grounds that the individuals targeted should be able to assert their rights.

Donald Trump invoked this law in a presidential statement issued on March 15 against the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua, declared a "terrorist" organization by Washington in February, the same day that some 250 people, the vast majority of them Venezuelans, were deported to El Salvador, accused of belonging to this gang. More than half were deported under the 1798 law.

In total, some 300 immigrants were deported to El Salvador, where they were held in a high-security prison known for its harsh conditions.

“Barely 24 hours’ notice”

In its decision Friday, by seven votes - four conservative justices, including its president, John Roberts, and three progressives - against the two most conservative magistrates, the Court extended until further notice the ban it had issued on April 19.

It refers the case to a federal appeals court to determine the legality of the use of this law and the conditions under which the persons concerned can challenge their expulsion in court. The Court emphasizes in particular the expeditious nature of the process, expressing alarm at "barely 24 hours' notice before the expulsion, without providing information on the rights to challenge it."

In a unanimous decision on April 7, the nine judges ruled that people facing expulsion under the law should be able to challenge it in court, contrary to what the Trump administration had claimed, and be notified within a "reasonable time."

The Court nevertheless assured on Friday that it was fully aware of the "national security interests" invoked by the government and therefore recommended that the lower courts rule "quickly".