Lawyers for the Justice Department, facing pushback on the Trump administration’s efforts to deport alleged migrant gang members under the wartime Alien Enemies Act, told a federal judge in Colorado Monday that they would give such migrants at least 24 hours to file a habeas petition contesting their removal.
The move came during a hearing Monday in which U.S. District Judge Charlotte Sweeney heard arguments over a temporary order she issued barring the administration from removing any noncitizens from Colorado under the 18th century authority that lets noncitizens be removed with little-to-no due process.
Regarding individuals who file for habeas corpus, the DOJ attorney said “the government, at this time, has no intent to remove those individuals pending litigation.”
In response, ACLU Colorado Legal Director Tim Macdonald argued that it is “preposterous” to suggest that a 24-hour notice would be enough time to allow people to file a habeas petition.
“I guess we should be peppering this court with hundreds of habeas petitions to the extent the government even allows us in the facility to talk to those people,” said Macdonald. “That’s not the way the rule of law should work.”
The hearing came two days after the U.S. Supreme Court blocked the AEA deportations of Venezuelan migrants being held in northern Texas after attorneys for the men said the accused gang members had received notices saying they were about to be deported.
Macdonald on Monday argued that the notices are “chilling to anyone who cares about due process” and requested the judge grant a temporary restraining order blocking such deportations in Colorado.
Salvadoran prison guards escort alleged members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua and the MS-13 gang recently deported by the U.S. government at the CECOT prison, in Tecoluca, El Salvador April 12, 2025.
Secretaria de Prensa de la Presidencia via Reuters
“If your honor were to deny the TRO, [the government] could either begin removing people immediately from the District of Colorado or find another jurisdiction where they don’t yet have a TRO and begin removing people there,” Macdonald said. “This has life or death consequences.”
The Trump administration last month touched off a legal battle when it invoked the Alien Enemies Act to deport two planeloads of alleged migrant gang members to the CECOT mega-prison in El Salvador by arguing that the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua is a “hybrid criminal state” that is invading the United States.
An official with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement acknowledged that “many” of the men lack criminal records in the United States — but said that “the lack of specific information about each individual actually highlights the risk they pose” and “demonstrates that they are terrorists with regard to whom we lack a complete profile.”
“The alleged harm to the government being unable to remove someone from a statute that was last seen more than 75 years ago … is trivial in comparison to the harms the humans that have been sent to the CECOT, potentially for the rest of their lives,” Macdonald argued Monday.
Judge Sweeney said her existing order would remain in effect until she issues a new ruling in 24 hours.
Also Monday, a federal judge in San Francisco will consider next steps after that judge last month put a temporary pause on the Trump administration’s plans to end legal protections and benefits for up to 350,000 Venezuelan migrants.
The hearing comes after an appeals court on Friday denied the Trump administration’s effort to block that pause.
The alleged Venezuelan gang members deported to El Salvador last month were sent to CECOT as part of a $6 million deal the Trump administration made with Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele for El Salvador to house migrant detainees as part of President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown.
In a post on social media on Sunday, Bukele proposed repatriating the 252 Venezuelans deported from the U.S. in exchange for the release of an equal number of “political prisoners” from Venezuela.
“I want to propose a humanitarian agreement that includes the repatriation of 100% of the 252 Venezuelans who were deported, in exchange for the release and surrender of an identical number (252) of the thousands of political prisoners you hold,” Bukele wrote to Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on X in Spanish.
Last week, Venezuelan Minister of Interior Relations Diosdado Cabello claimed that the Venezuelan government has “proved” that none of the Venezuelan migrants the Trump administration deported to El Salvador are members of Tren de Aragua.
The Trump administration did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
