The Trump administration has been ordered to temporarily stop deporting migrants to El Salvador, offering a vital reprieve for men currently detained in northern Texas. These individuals are being held under the little-known and antiquated Alien Enemies Act, a wartime law dating back to the late 1700s.
In an emergency ruling issued in the early hours of April 19, the U.S. Supreme Court granted these detainees the chance to challenge their removal before potentially being sent to the infamous CECOT mega-prison—officially the Center for Terrorism Confinement—widely condemned as one of the Western Hemisphere’s harshest detention facilities.
The Supreme Court’s full directive reads:
“There is before the Court an application on behalf of a putative class of detainees seeking an injunction against their removal under the Alien Enemies Act. The matter is currently pending before the Fifth Circuit. Upon action by the Fifth Circuit, the Solicitor General is invited to file a response to the application before this Court as soon as possible.”
Most importantly, the Court ordered:
“The Government is directed not to remove any member of the putative class of detainees from the United States until further order of this Court.”
Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito dissented from the majority ruling, with Justice Alito expected to issue a formal statement soon.
This landmark decision pauses a deeply contentious issue and provides the detained men with a narrow but crucial opportunity to defend themselves before facing possible exile to one of the world’s most feared prison systems.
prison officer guards a cell at maximum security penitentiary CECOT, in El Salvador (Alex Peña/Getty Images)
To carry out the deportation of individuals already flown to El Salvador, the Trump administration relied on a rarely invoked—and deeply controversial—law from the 18th century: the Alien Enemies Act of 1798. This archaic wartime statute, historically used during World War II to justify the internment of Japanese, German, and Italian civilians in the United States, has resurfaced in a modern and troubling context.
On March 15, the administration orchestrated the transfer of hundreds of migrants to El Salvador’s notoriously brutal “mega-prison”—a facility infamous for state-sanctioned violence and severe overcrowding. This move ignited immediate public outrage, especially since it appeared to directly defy a temporary injunction issued that very day by U.S. District Judge James E. Boasberg, who had ordered a halt to the deportations.
Despite the judge’s order, the flights reportedly proceeded, exposing alarming legal loopholes exploited by the government—and highlighting the profound human cost of these actions.v
