A 1798 law is the foundation of the Trump’s administration’s recent deportations of Venezuelan nationals suspected of gang membership.
But on Wednesday afternoon, it was over a 21st-century technology that a federal judge decided to lengthen the timespan needed for the feds to notify a Central Falls man if he’s to be transferred out of Rhode Island, such as to the maximum security prison CECOT in El Salvador.
“I do want to preserve the status quo with respect to this petitioner, so I am going to extend my order to a 72-hour notice provision,” U.S. District Court Judge Melissa DuBose said during the roughly 25-minute remote hearing, held over Zoom and broadcast live on YouTube.
But DuBose did not fulfill the wishes of the plaintiff’s counsel, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), whose attorneys filed a request for a temporary restraining order Monday to stop the man, identified in court documents as G.M.G., from being deported on suspicions of membership in Tren de Aragua, an international cartel based in Venezuela.
The man is a Venezuelan asylum-seeker who, fearing political persecution in his native country, came to the U.S. in 2023 with his fianceé and her son. He was arrested while at work at his job as a barber on March 26 and has been held at the Donald W. Wyatt Detention Facility in Central Falls since.
The ACLU contends he is being held as a suspected member of Tren de Aragua, based on his tattoos. Members of the gang are named in Trump’s March 15 executive order, as eligible for rapid removal from the country under the Alien Enemies Act (AEA) — a wartime statute previously invoked only during the War of 1812, World War I, and World War II.
On Monday, DuBose ordered that the court receive 48 hours’ notice before any transfer of G.M.G. outside Rhode Island. But Wednesday, she expanded that to 72 hours to give counsel time to respond if the removal process is triggered.
“The harm to him is certainly great if he were confined in a prison in El Salvador,” said My Khanh Ngo, a Senior Staff Attorney at the SACLU Immigrants’ Rights Project in its San Francisco office, during the hearing.
DuBose agreed to keep the ACLU’s motion for a restraining order pending, and it can be reactivated if the federal government initiates a formal removal process under the Alien Enemies Act DuBose based her decision partially on the uncertainty on the federal side of the equation — including who will be responsible for handling the case going forward.
“We are in kind of a weird, kind of gray area here,” DuBose said during the hearing.
Sara Miron Bloom, acting U.S. attorney for the District of Rhode Island, filled in to represent federal arguments Wednesday, and could not confirm if her office or someone at the U.S. Department of Justice would serve as the feds’ attorney of record on the case.
Bloom said she was also unaware of any application of the Alien Enemies Act or proceedings involving G.M.G. She said he is engaged in immigration proceedings under the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA).
“It is therefore quite possible that he will continue to be under immigration proceedings under the INA, and so if that is to happen, then there is no need for this court to rule,” Bloom said.
But Bloom could also not confirm whether the Alien Enemies Act would not be applied to G.M.G. in the near future — a major concern for his attorneys, who argued it could happen with little warning.
“I understand that 48 hours notice ahead of transfer in an ordinary case may be sufficient, but we’re talking about removals in the AEA context,” Ngo said. “If the government were to give notice right after his hearing and say he’s going to be moved Friday evening, it will take us some time to locate him…He could be on a plane or already at the prison in El Salvador come Monday.”
Ngo said this line of argument led to successful acquisition of temporary restraining orders in other states’ courthouses, but Bloom noted those cases were class-actions. “This individual petitioner is protected against sudden removal or transfer by your current order,” she said to DuBose.
The harm to him is certainly great if he were confined in a prison in El Salvador.
The judge acknowledged that she can’t “extend the scope of my reach outside of the four corners of the petition that’s before me.”
But DuBose’s interest was also piqued by the fact that “there hasn’t been this filing of the removal order or a petition under the AEA,” she said. “I’m also troubled or concerned that…protocol has not been consistently established.”
While the ACLU did not secure a restraining order immediately, Ngo argued that the extended notice period would suffice for the moment: “It would be fine if the order were amended to provide for 72 hours’ notice of any transfers out of this district.”
“I don’t really have a concern with the 72 hours versus 48 hours,” Bloom agreed. “My understanding is under this order that the court has already entered, what counsel is describing would not occur.”
“And Attorney Bloom,” DuBose added at the end of the hearing, addressing the acting U.S. attorney who joined the District of Rhode Island in January 2022. “I’m hoping at some point we’ll get clarity… as to who’s going to be representing the respondent.”
“I hope so too,” Bloom replied with a laugh.
This story was originally published by the Rhode Island Current.
