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Erik's avatar

As I read the statute Matt has provided, two things must happen before deportation and certainly before imprisonment:

1. Citizens of a foreign nation, which nation has declared war or has made some sort of invasion or excursion into the U.S., in case no declared war exists;

2. The deportation cannot take place unless there is first a judicial evidentiary hearing.

Here, Venezuela is not at war with us and is not, as a nation, making some sort of excursion into the U.S. and therefore the first requirement is not satisfied. The suspects might be violating US law, but not this law.

Second, the U S was deporting these aliens without the necessary judicial evidentiary hearing.

Thus, the Court issued an order that no deportation or imprisonment could occur without the necessary and legally required hearing thereon. It was the government clearly violating the law by flying these people to a foreign prison when the requirements of the statute had not been met. Every self-respecting law abiding judge in America—far right to far left —would be constitutionally bound to grant a TRO under these circumstances and would only be subject to impeachment if they went along with the government’s illegal actions.

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