Trump-appointed judge blocks Alien Enemies Act deportations in Los Angeles area
Source: CBS News
June 2, 2025 / 6:01 PM EDT
A judge in California on Monday blocked the Trump administration from using the wartime Alien Enemies Act to deport Venezuelan migrants in the Los Angeles area, ruling that the government hasn't promised adequate due process.
The ruling by U.S. District Judge John Holcomb — who was nominated by President Trump in 2019 — is the latest to limit the administration's controversial practice of rapidly deporting people accused of being members of the gang Tren de Aragua under the 1798 law, which allows removals of during an "invasion" or "predatory incursion" of the United States. Courts in three other states have also blocked Alien Enemies Act removals, though under different arguments.
Holcomb's preliminary injunction applies to most migrants who are in custody in the Central District of California, which includes Los Angeles, Orange County and several bordering areas. The judge previously issued a temporary restraining order last month. The case reached Holcomb's desk after a Venezuelan man named Darwin Antonio Arevalo Millan petitioned for his release last month. Arevalo says he applied for asylum but was arrested at a scheduled Immigration and Customs Enforcement check-in and told he was detained in part due to his tattoos.
The government told the court that he wasn't detained under the Alien Enemies Act, but Holcomb concluded that Arevalo still "faces an imminent threat of removal" under Mr. Trump's order invoking the law. Holcomb ruled that Arevalo is likely to succeed in showing the government hasn't provided adequate notice for him to challenge his deportation. The judge said that in a hearing the government "refused to tell the Court how much notice it actually intends to provide."
Read more: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-appointed-judge-blocks-alien-enemies-act-deportations-in-los-angeles/
Link to ORDER (PDF viewer) - https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/25959309-millan-ruling/
Link to ORDER (PDF) - https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/25959309/millan-ruling.pdf