Our Fifth Circuit Alien Enemies Act Amicus Brief

A prison guard transfers Alien Enemies Act deportees from the U.S., alleged to be Venezuelan gang members, to the Terrorism Confinement Center in Tecoluca, El Salvador. Mar. 16, 2025 (El Salvador Presidential Press Office)

 

Today, in the Fifth Circuit case of W.M.M. v. Trump, we submitted an amicus brief opposing the Trump Administration's use of the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 as a tool for peacetime detention and deportation of immigrants. The brief was filed on behalf of the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU, the Cato Institute, prominent law-of-war scholar Prof. John Dehn, and myself. I coauthored it with Brennan Center attorneys Katherine Yon Ebright and Leah Tulin, with the aid of valuable advice from Elizabeth Goitein (Brennan Center), and Prof. Dehn. Katherine is a leading expert on the AEA and its history, and Liza one of the nation' leading experts on emergency powers.