“Confirmed Judges, Confirmed Fears” is a blog series documenting the harmful impact of President Trump’s judges on Americans’ rights and liberties. It includes judges nominated in both his first and second terms.
Even as federal judges appointed by both Republican and Democratic presidents have stopped deportations under the Alien Enemies Act (AEA), the Trump Administration recently transferred dozens of detained Venezuelans to the jurisdiction of a Trump judge, Wesley Hendrix of the Northern District of Texas, who has refused to halt such peremptory deportations. Although the Supreme Court temporarily barred such deportations in April in AARP v Trump, that order could be lifted at any time and AEA deportations could resume immediately because of the transfer to Hendrix
What has happened in this case?
Significant controversy has arisen about the Trump Administration’s deportation of some 130 Venezuelan immigrants under the AEA to a notorious prison in El Salvador. A number of federal trial court judges, nominated both by Republican and Democratic presidents, have issued temporary orders stopping such deportations as the legal issues in the cases continue to be litigated. The Trump Administration, however, has tried to evade this restriction by transferring such detainees within the US to the jurisdiction of a particular Trump judge, Wesley Hendrix.
More specifically, the Supreme Court ruled earlier this year that a detainee trying to stop such a transfer to El Salvador must file a petition for a writ of habeas corpus in the judicial district in which he is confined before the Administration can deport him. In early May, however, it was revealed that the Administration “has moved dozens of detained Venezuelans to the one court district in the nation where a federal judge for now has declined to stand in its way.” Even as judges nominated by presidents of both parties were ruling temporarily against efforts to deport Venezuelans to the El Salvador prison under the AEA, Trump judge Hendrix declined in April to enter such an order concerning immigrants at the Bluebonnet Detention Facility in Texas, where he is the sole federal judge with jurisdiction, To try to avoid rulings in favor of detainees in Colorado, Pennsylvania, and elsewhere, ICE ordered Venezuelan detainees to be sent to Bluebonnet where, they anticipated, the federal judge would not stop deportations under AEA. As one ACLU lawyer put it, the government was “finding Venezuelan men” and “shipping them to the Northern District of Texas.”
As of now, the Supreme Court has paused AEA deportations from Bluebonnet as it considers whether immigrants there are being given adequate opportunity to challenge their designations under AEA. By transferring detainees and judge shopping to Trump judge Hendrix, however, the Trump Administration is poised to resume deportations to the notorious El Salvador prison as soon as possible. This action by the Trump Administration illustrates the dangers that can be caused by Trump judges , the importance of our federal courts to health, welfare and justice, and the significance of having fair-minded judges on the federal bench.