A skirmish in a nationwide battle over the Trump administration’s push to deport immigrants it claims are criminals played out Monday in a Western Pennsylvania courtroom.
Attorneys for a Venezuelan man accused of being part of the notorious Tren de Aragua gang asked a federal judge in Johnstown to bar the government from deporting him and more than 1,000 other detainees like him in Western Pennsylvania.
Government lawyers pushed back, arguing that President Donald Trump has the legal right to evict people like the man at the center of the Johnstown immigration fight.
The case is one of nine similar conflicts raging in federal courtrooms across the country as advocates challenge the Trump administration’s efforts to kick immigrants out of the country without due process.
In the Johnstown case, filed on behalf of a Venezuelan identified in court papers only as A.S.R., lawyers are seeking an injunction that would stop U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement from removing him and others like him who were processed through a detention center in Clearfield County.
The government alleges the man has three gang tattoos and claims it has reliable information that he is part of Tren de Aragua, which has been labeled a foreign terrorist group by the U.S. government.
Attorneys for A.S.R. said he vehemently denies being in the gang. In court filings, they wrote that the man came to the United States in 2023 with his wife, child and two stepchildren after he was extorted by groups in Venezuela associated with the regime of President Nicolás Maduro.
He was arrested Feb. 26 when his neighbor reported he was a gang member.
A.S.R.,who is currently in immigration removal proceedings and is seeking asylum, was taken to the Moshannon Valley Processing Center in Clearfield County before being sent to Texas.
Clearfield County is one of 25 counties that falls within the jurisdiction of the U.S. attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania, which handles criminal and civil matters involving federal law.
Lawyers for the American Civil Liberties Union representing A.S.R. sued the government April 15 while he was still at the processing center in Clearfield County.
The facility, opened by ICE in 2021, has nearly 1,900 beds and is the largest immigration detention facility in the northeast, according to the GEO Group Inc., which operates it.
There are approximately 1,500 people being held there, according to the ACLU.
U.S. District Judge Stephanie Haines said she would make her decision on the injunction request “in due course.”
The Alien Enemies Act
In March, Trump issued a proclamation invoking the Alien Enemies Act against Tren de Aragua.
The president said members of the gang have infiltrated the United States and are “conducting irregular warfare.”
He asserted the group is operating in conjunction with Venezuela’s president and his goal of destabilizing democratic nations, including the United States.
In February, Tren de Aragua was designated as a Foreign Terrorist Organization by the United States.
Under the proclamation, the government may apprehend and remove all Venezuelan citizens 14 years of age or older who are members of the gang.
Since then, the federal government has cited the act in efforts to remove dozens of Venezuelans, including in Washington, D.C., where five such detainees filed the first lawsuit.
In that case, which quickly made its way to the U.S. Supreme Court, the justices ruled 5-4 last month that every detainee is entitled to due process before deportation under the Alien Enemies Act.
Practically, that means they have the right under the U.S. Constitution to be given notice and a chance to have a hearing before being deported.
Over the weekend Trump told NBC’s “Meet the Press” he didn’t know whether noncitizens deserved due process rights.
A congressional website on the Constitution says the Fifth Amendment’s due process protections extend to “aliens.”
Invasion or not?
In A.S.R.’s case, on Monday, Haines heard argument on a request for a preliminary injunction.
Lee Gelernt, deputy director of the ACLU’s Immigrants’ Rights Project, argued that the use of the Alien Enemies Act by the Trump administration is inappropriate.
The act has been used only three times in history, Gelernt said — during the War of 1812, World War I and World War II.
It may be invoked under only two circumstances, Gelernt said: when there’s been a declaration of war, or if there is a military invasion or predatory incursion.
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None of those exist in this situation, Gelernt said.
He cited cases in three other federal district courts — in Texas, Colorado and Washington, D.C. — in which judges agreed with that position.
Haines noted that she spent more than 24 years in the military, as a lawyer (a Judge Advocate General officer).
She asked Gelernt to focus on defining a predatory incursion.
“It’s the first step toward, ultimately, an invasion,” Gelernt said.
In the case of Tren de Aragua, Gelernt continued, that’s not happening.
“I don’t think anything in the proclamation comes to anything close to that,” he said. “It’s just basic criminal activity.”
Gelernt said if the act is allowed to be used against members of Tren de Aragua, it could apply to any gang, ethnic or religious group that may engage in criminal activity.
“That gets us to very dangerous ground,” he said. “At that point, anybody could be tagged with the [Alien Enemies Act.]”
Basis for removal
Gelernt argued that the people being targeted by the Trump administration are not being given due process under immigration law, and instead are being threatened with removal to a prison in El Salvador, know to be one of the most brutal in the world.
But Michael Velchik, a government lawyer, told the court that A.S.R. is not being held under the Alien Enemies Act.
“That is not the basis for his detention or removal,” Velchik said.
Instead, he continued, A.S.R. could be subject to removal under immigration law if he is a member of Tren de Aragua.
The judge asked whether there was a chance the government will deem A.S.R. removable under the Alien Enemies Act.
“I’m not aware of any intent to do so,” Velchik responded.
Therefore, he continued, A.S.R. may not challenge removal under that act, and the court does not have jurisdiction.
Currently, Velchik argued, there are no people designated for removal under the Alien Enemies Act being held in the Western District of Pennsylvania.
Velchick said it is within Trump’s power as commander in chief to deport A.S.R. and the courts should give deference to the executive branch.
“We think there is enough empirical support to justify the president’s actions.”
Seeking a return to Pennsylvania
Velchik told the court that anyone detained under the act would have at least 12 hours’ notice of removal to obtain an attorney. They then must file notice of a court action within 24 hours.
“It’s the government’s position this is reasonable,” Velchik said.
He also claimed detainees are provided with a form that explains the removal proceedings.
But Gelernt said it can take days before a client can get in touch with their attorney, and by that point, it may be too late.
What’s more, he said, the forms provided to detainees are only in English.
Gelernt suggested at least 14 days’ notice to account for that lag time.
As part of the injunction request, Gelernt asked that A.S.R. be returned to the Western District of Pennsylvania so that he can better communicate with his attorneys.