US Treated Nazis Better Than Deported Venezuelan Migrants, Federal Judge Says

Judge Patricia Millett of the US Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia made the remarks while hearing arguments regarding President Donald Trump’s use of the Alien Enemies Act (AEA) to deport more than 200 alleged members of the Venezuelan gang Tren De Aragua. She noted that the individuals were removed to El Salvador without due process.

"There were planeloads of people. There were no procedures in place to notify people," Millett said. "Nazis got better treatment under the Alien Enemies Act."

The judge emphasized that during World War II, alleged Nazis were granted hearing boards and subjected to established regulations, whereas the Venezuelan deportees received no such legal protections.

"There's no regulations, and nothing was adopted by the agency officials that were administering this," she said. "The people weren't given notice. They weren't told where they were going. They were given those people on those planes on that Saturday and had no opportunity to file habeas or any type of action to challenge the removal under the AEA."

Millett further criticized the process, suggesting that under the administration’s approach, anyone could be mistakenly deported without a chance to contest their removal.

"Y’all could have put me up on Saturday and thrown me on a plane, thinking I'm a member of Tren de Aragua, and giving me no chance to protest it," she said. "For me to say, 'Excuse me, no, I'm not, I'd like a hearing.'"

In response, Deputy Assistant Attorney General Drew Ensign rejected the comparison to Nazis and argued that some of the deported individuals had been given an opportunity to file petitions.

"Well, Your Honor, we certainly dispute the Nazi analogy," Ensign said.

Millett, however, questioned whether the deportees had any realistic opportunity to challenge their removal before being sent out of the country.

"So your theory is that they don't get the challenges until they're in the Salvadorian jail?" she asked. "Are you saying that they don't have a right, until they're removed from the United States, in US custody, to challenge?"

The Trump administration has asked the Court of Appeals to overturn a temporary restraining order issued last Saturday that blocked the use of the Alien Enemies Act for deportations. A ruling on the matter is expected later this week.

"The problem here is that they are challenging implementation of a proclamation in a way that never gave anyone a chance to say, 'I'm not covered,'" Millett said.

"And if your argument is we didn't have to do that, it's an intrusion on the president's war powers, the courts are paralyzed to do anything... that's a misreading of precedent, misreading of the text of the Alien Enemies Act," she added.

The restraining order stated that Trump's "unprecedented use" of the AEA does not exempt the government from ensuring that those deported had the chance to contest their designation as alleged gang members.

If the case remains unresolved in the D.C. Circuit Court, the Trump administration could escalate it to the US Supreme Court, where conservatives hold a 6-3 majority, including three justices appointed by Trump during his first term.