The ruling was the first time a judge weighed in on the merits of Trump's invocation of the wartime authority granted in 1798.

A federal judge permanently blocked the Trump administration on Thursday from using the Alien Enemies Act (AEA) to deport foreign gang members. Judge Fernando Rodriguez Jr., a Trump appointee, held the president’s March 15 proclamation invoking the AEA to target members of the Venezuelan Tren de Aragua gang is “unlawful” because the statute has historically only referred to an “organized,