Trump angry: Supreme Court stops deportations - what does that mean for the USA?

Trump angry: Supreme Court stops deportations - what does that mean for the USA?

On May 16, 2025, the Supreme Court of the United States made an important decision that rejects the debate about the application of the Alien Enemies Act and the legal foundations for deportations from immigrants. The decision that maintains a temporary stop for deportations was severely criticized by President Trump. Trump was outraged on social media and complained that the Court of Justice did not allow "to create criminals out of the country". Only two of the six conservative judges voted against the decision of the court.

The application of the Alien Enemies Act, a law from 1798, was brought into play by the Trump administration to quickly deport alleged members of the Venezuelan Gang Tren de Aragua. Meanwhile, lawyers argued that deportations should be stopped during the ongoing procedure, since the government deported many men without judicial review. The Supreme Court made it clear that the government can continue to carry out deportations in accordance with other provisions of the US immigration law, but decided that the clarification of the legal questions is referred to a Federal Appeal Court.

background to the deportations

The Trump administration has deported hundreds of immigrants to El Salvador in the past few months, of which the government claims that they are members of Tren de Aragua, which is classified by US authorities as foreign terrorist organization. The deportations met with violent criticism and legal disputes. A district court had previously temporarily blocked the deportations and called for the return of deported migrants. According to the court, the authorities had carried out the deportations without regulated procedures and without proper notification of the detainees, which raised significant concerns about the rule of law.

The German press agency reports that the US Ministry of Finance described the Gang in July 2024 as a transnational criminal organization, and the Foreign Ministry followed with the terrorist evaluation in February. On March 15 of this year, 238 names of deported people were published, with at least 137 being deported under the Alien Enemies Act. The district judge James Boasberg expressed concerns about the secrecy of the deportations and found that such measures raise legal questions outside of a warlike context.

The Alien Enemies Act in history

The Alien Enemies Act is one of the most controversial laws in US history. Originally introduced with France in 1798 during a war that had not been declared, it has since been used in various conflicts, including the British-American War, the first and the Second World War. Historically, the law was often used discriminatory against certain nationalities. For example, 120,000 Japanese Americans, many of them, were interned in the Second World War, which was later recognized as racist motivated overreaction.

The developments of the past few days show how fundamental the debate about immigration and national security is in the United States. The upcoming legal steps will be decisive for the measures that the government can still take and how the Supreme Court reacts to this complex topic.