Trump’s fight over rarely used 18th-century deportation law lives on in latest court clash

The Fifth U.S.

Circuit Court of Appeals on Thursday dismissed as moot a challenge to President Donald Trump’s use of the Alien Enemies Act to deport alleged Tren de Aragua members, leaving the legality of his invocation of the 18th-century law unresolved.

The New Orleans-based court said the case became moot after all three Venezuelan plaintiffs, whom the administration alleged were members of Tren de Aragua , had already been removed from the United States under other immigration authorities.

While the Alien Enemies Act dates back hundreds of years, prior to Trump, it was most recently invoked by President Harry Truman in 1946.

The law allows the president, under specified wartime or invasion circumstances involving a foreign nation or government, to detain and remove certain non-naturalized individuals of that hostile power.

The Trump administration has argued that Tren de Aragua’s gang activity amounts to an "invasion or predatory incursion" under the law and has sought to use the authority as part of its broader immigration agenda , including efforts to speed the removal of suspected gang members.

DC APPEALS COURT ORDERS JUDGE BOASBERG TO HALT TRUMP CONTEMPT PROBE OVER DEPORTATION FLIGHTS The Supreme Court previously blocked the administration from removing the detainees under the Alien Enemies Act while the case proceeded, but stopped short of deciding whether Trump had lawfully invoked the statute, sending the dispute back to the Fifth Circuit.

Advancing American Freedom senior legal fellow Bryce Poole described the ruling as a mixed result for the Trump administration.

"The Fifth Circuit's en banc decision in W.M.M. v.

Trump represents one step forward, one step sideways for the Trump Administration," Advancing American Freedom senior legal fellow Bryce Poole told Fox News Digital.

"Last year, in A.A.R.P. v.

Trump, the Supreme Court blocked the removals but declined to decide whether President Trump's invocation of the Alien Enemies Act was lawful, sending that question back to the Fifth Circuit." Advancing American Freedom is a conservative public policy advocacy organization founded by former Vice President Mike Pence.

"It's a step forward because it vacates the prior ruling that said Trump's invocation was unlawful, leaving the President's AEA powers intact," Poole explained.

"It's a step sideways because the court dodged the merits, so the AEA's legality remains a live question the Supreme Court will likely decide — probably in a different case like J.A.V. v.