ACLU Files Habeas Class Action to Block Alien Enemies Act Deportations

This case has crucial implications for the ability of migrants to effectively challenge illegal AEA deportations.

(ACLU)

In my recent post about the Supreme Court's ruling in Trump v. JGG, the Alien Enemies Act case, I noted that the impact of the decision will in large part be determined by whether non-citizens slated for deportation under the AEA will be allowed to bring habeas class actions to challenge them. If class actions are permitted, then individual detained immigrants won't have to bring separate habeas cases to challenge their deportation (which many may not have the resources or the knowledge to be able to do effectively). Rather, public interest groups and others can bring systematic challenges on behalf of large groups.

Yesterday, the American Civil Liberties Union filed a habeas class action lawsuit on behalf of migrants slated for AEA deportation, currently detained in New York. They seek to certify a class that includes "All noncitizens in immigration custody who were, are, or will be subject to the March 2025 Presidential Proclamation entitled 'Invocation of the Alien Enemies Act Regarding the Invasion of the United States by Tren De Aragua' and/or its implementation." This includes virtually everyone who might be deported by the administration under its Alien Enemies Act Proclamation.

I am not an expert on class actions. So I cannot say much about the likelihood of success for this suit. I must largely leave that issue to others with greater expertise.

But I will note that it is not unusual for class actions to include class members who are located in different places around the country.  This situation strikes me as the kind of scenario for which class actions were created. We have a likely illegal policy that potentially harms a large number of people around the country, they have a common interest in stopping it, but many would find it difficult or impossible to bring individual lawsuits. For obvious reasons, immigrants detained by ICE may find it hard to bring individual habeas petitions, even though the Supreme Court has ruled that they "must receive notice after the date of this order that they are subject to removal under the Act [and] [t]he notice must be afforded within a reasonable time and in such a manner as will allow them to actually seek habeas relief in the proper venue before such removal occurs."

Elsewhere I have written about why the Administration's invocation of the AEA is illegal, and would set a very dangerous precedent if allowed to stand. People slated for deportation to brutal imprisonment in El Salvador should at the very least have a meaningful opportunity to raise these issues in court. The class action pathway seems like the best remaining available means to ensure they get the due process to which they are entitled under the Constitution.