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In a dramatic late-night turn, the U.S. Supreme Court blocked Venezuelan deportations ordered by the Trump administration under a centuries-old wartime statute, momentarily freezing the removal of dozens of migrants accused of gang affiliations. The rare intervention, issued around 12:55 a.m. Saturday, came as a legal time bomb ticked beneath a divided nation.

With the clock winding down and buses already rumbling toward airstrips, the justices stepped in, issuing a brief unsigned stay that prevented further deportations of what the court called the "putative class of detainees." The high-stakes emergency order was prompted by a plea from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), which warned that many Venezuelan migrants faced imminent exile without the court-mandated judicial review.

“The Government is directed not to remove any member... until further order of this Court,” the ruling read.

Dissent from the Right

Conservative Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito dissented publicly, exposing deep ideological cracks in the Court's view on executive power and immigration enforcement.

The Trump administration, undeterred, responded later Saturday with a legal salvo of its own. It urged the justices to lift the pause, accusing advocacy groups of abusing the courts to shield "terrorist aliens."

“We are confident in the lawfulness of the Administration's actions,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said, adding that the administration was determined to “prevail against an onslaught of meritless litigation brought by radical activists.”

Buses Turn Back in the Dead of Night

According to the ACLU, some detainees had already been loaded onto buses and transported to airports. A harrowing audio recording—posted to TikTok and cited in court filings—depicts detained men claiming they were falsely labeled gang members and taken from the Bluebonnet detention center in Texas before abruptly being returned.

One of the men, Diover Millan, 24, was granted Temporary Protected Status after arriving in 2023 and had no criminal record, according to his wife. “I’m scared,” she said, relaying that her husband had been told he was being transferred to the notorious CECOT prison in El Salvador—until a last-minute phone call redirected the bus.

Historic Law Reawakened

At the core of the legal drama is the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, a statute conceived in an era of naval skirmishes and political paranoia. Rarely invoked, it grants the president sweeping authority to deport nationals from enemy countries during wartime. Trump’s administration deployed the act to expedite removals of suspected members of Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan-born gang now designated as a terrorist group.

More than 200 men, including Venezuelans and Salvadorans, have already been sent to a maximum-security prison in El Salvador, the government confirmed. Among them was Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran man deported in error—an admission that sparked sharp criticism of the administration's procedures.