Late Tuesday evening, the 5th Circuit delivered its decision in the case now titled W.M.M. v. Trump (formerly titled A.A.R.P. v. Trump) concerning the Trump administration’s application of the Alien Enemies Act (AEA) to expel alleged members of the Tren de Aragua (TdA) from the U.S. To get straight to the point, the court determined that the administration wrongly employed the AEA to justify the expulsion of the alleged TdA members because “we find no invasion or predatory incursion.”
This case has traversed a complex procedural journey, featuring several significant decisions and an excursion to the Supreme Court, which resulted in an unexpected Easter weekend ruling. This ruling sent the case back to the 5th Circuit to resolve two issues:
(1) all the typical preliminary injunction factors, including the likelihood of success on the merits concerning the named [Petitioners’] original habeas claims that the AEA does not authorize their expulsion under the President’s March 14, 2025, Proclamation, and (2) the matter of what notice is required concerning the putative class’s due process claims against summary expulsion.
