Donald Trump’s team won a rare victory amid a series of court defeats. The U.S. Supreme Court allowed him to apply a two-century-old law that allows the sole decision of the head of state to expel foreign citizens from the country. Perhaps this victory won’t last long. But she will allow Trump to continue deporting Venezuelans, thus increasing the president’s badly shaken rating.
The victory was not easy. Only five judges voted for the application of the law “On Hostile Aliens” of 1789, against four who opposed it. Once again, it turned out that the rule “whoever is appointed by whom supports whom” does not really work in the United States. Six of the nine judges belong to the so–called conservatives – that is, they are close in their beliefs to the Republican Party. This happened through the efforts of Trump, who tried to introduce such people to the Supreme Court. However, this has not yet affected the decisions of this instance. And now the conservative appointed by Trump, Judge Amy Connie Barrett, voted the same way as all three liberal judges: against the application of the law.
The president himself, without hiding his joy, called the verdict “a great day for American justice,” but this victory is not final. It can be reset if the Venezuelans who are subject to deportation and who have applied to the court in this regard are able to satisfy their claims. After all, the verdict of the Supreme Court stipulates that no one takes away the right to appeal the president’s decision from residents of the United States.
In the comments to the verdict, which are given in the American liberal press, attention is drawn to how often the Trumpists have recently begun to turn to ancient legal norms that were not applied a long time ago, but have not been abolished. Let us recall, for example, the ban on abortions in Arizona, under penalty of imprisonment, with reference to the 1864 law introduced in the state last year. But Trump has delved into history even more radically. The law of 1789, which allowed the president to deport foreigners without a court order, was directed against loyalists. That was the name given to the inhabitants of the then-young state of the United States, who had just finished fighting with Great Britain five years ago and remained loyal to the British crown. It was used on a massive scale only during the American-British War of 1812. Actually, it was designed for the realities of wartime. Those realities have long been gone, but hundreds of Venezuelans suspected of involvement in the organized criminal group Tren de Aragua have been deported. Moreover, they are sent not to their homeland, but to prisons in El Salvador, famous for their strict regime.
Deportations are being welcomed by Trump supporters. His migration policy is generally one of the least objectionable actions of the new administration, although there is opposition to them. Trumpists emphasize that previously convicted Venezuelans or those who are highly likely to be suspected of belonging to bandits are being expelled from the country. Their opponents say that the end should not justify the means.
The fact is that Trump, in his fight against migrant crime, has already once directly violated a court decision. In March, the District of Columbia court, having satisfied the claim of five Venezuelans, decided to stop mass deportations and deploy a plane carrying deportees to El Salvador. However, despite this, the plane still landed there. Over two hundred Venezuelans ended up in local prisons. Perhaps Trump will remember this later.
In Congress, the idea of impeaching the president is already, as they say, in the air. Democrat, member of the House of Representatives Al Green even announced that he would prepare a corresponding bill within the next 30 days. In order for it to pass, it will require the Republicans to lose their majority in both houses of Congress or a revolt against the president by his party members. The second one doesn’t seem so improbable now. According to the forecast of The Hill, this week in Congress will be marked by at least serious disputes in the Republican faction. Budget issues will be at the center of the discussion, but it is possible that the internal party opposition will manifest itself when it comes to new deportations and tariff policy.
