Pennsylvania federal judge has ruled in favor of the Trump administration, upholding the use of the Alien Enemies Act (AEA) for the deportation of illegal immigrants who are members of foreign gangs designated as terrorist organizations.
The decision is seen as a major legal victory for Trump-era immigration policy and marks a significant use of executive power in the name of national security.
The case centered around a March proclamation issued by President Donald Trump, which invoked the Alien Enemies Act—a rarely used 18th-century law—to classify certain foreign criminal gangs as threats to public safety, thereby allowing for their immediate removal from the United States.
The gang named in the case, referred to in legal filings as TdA, had previously been officially designated as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) by the U.S. State Department.
Judge Stephanie L. Haines, of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania, wrote in her opinion that the proclamation issued under the AEA is legally sound. “This case implicates significant issues,” she noted.
“In resolving those issues, this Court’s unflagging obligation is to apply the law as written.” Judge Haines affirmed that the Trump proclamation complies with the AEA,