McAllen, Texas — A federal judge in New York and Texas ruled Friday that a temporary restraining order to stop the removal of Venezuelans from the United States would be expanded and that more people in both states would be protected.
The ruling comes in a class action lawsuit filed to stop the government from eliminating Venezuelans accused of being a gang member under the alien enemy law. The judge granted a temporary restraining order earlier this week, causing the US government to be detained at a Venezuelan detained in a detention facility in Raymondville, Texas, and a facility held within federal jurisdiction in the Southern District of New York.
On Friday, Texas Judge Fernando Rodriguez Jr. extended his ruling to protect all Venezuelans detained in judicial districts, including cities in Houston, Galveston, Laredo, McAllen, Brownsville, Corpus Christi and Victoria. Manhattan Federal Court Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein amended his initial order to include protections for “individuals subject to the Presidential Declaration with state or local custody.”
Judicial activities came after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on Monday that removals could be resumed under the alien enemy laws, but detainees must be given some legitimate procedure before flying, including reasonable times that they argue that they should not be removed.
Judge Rodriguez asked the government on Friday whether it would provide appropriate notice to affected Venezuelans facing rescue as ordered by the Supreme Court. “We are not prepared to say we will provide more than 24 hours of notice,” said Sarah Wilson, the government’s chief attorney, who added that they are working to decide that.
“It would be appropriate to give a 30-day notice, as was done in World War II,” said ACLU lawyer Lee Gelernt. “Our concern is that the government hasn’t said what the notice looks like.”
The lawsuit filed by the ACLU and the ACLU in Texas tried to stop the removal, such as the 100+ people sent to the infamous prison in El Salvador, without challenges to remove them in court. The ACLU also asks the courts to control whether it is legal to use alien enemy law when the country is not at war.
Preliminary injunction hearings were scheduled for later this month in both countries.
