BREAKING: Appeals Court President Trump Huge Win in Alien Enemies Act Case

The en banc Fifth Circuit has dismissed as moot a major challenge to President Trump's use of the Alien Enemies Act against alleged Tren de Aragua members, avoiding a ruling on whether Trump's invocation of the 1798 law is legal. pic.twitter.com/2h78pVmcz8

— SCOTUS Wire (@scotus_wire) August 13, 2026

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BREAKING: The 5th Circuit Court of Appeals has DISMISSED a MAJOR lawsuit against President Trump, throwing out a leftist challenge to POTUS deporting illegals through the Alien Enemies Act

Go FULL FORCE on these invaders now, POTUS!

TRUMP: “They INVADED our country!”… pic.twitter.com/EIXzJYrX0S

— Nick Sortor (@nicksortor) August 13, 2026

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BREAKING: The 5th Circuit Court of Appeals has DISMISSED a MAJOR lawsuit against President Trump, throwing out a leftist challenge to POTUS deporting illegals through the Alien Enemies Act

Go FULL FORCE on these invaders now, POTUS!

TRUMP: “They INVADED our country!”

“This is a time of WAR, because Biden allowed MILLIONS of people, many of them criminals, many of them at the highest level. They emptied jails out. Other nations emptied their jails into the United States. That’s an INVASION!”

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The case had boomeranged from the Supreme Court after Trump began deportations under the rarely used law in the early months of his administration’s immigration crackdown.

The jurists on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit noted that the three men who brought the suit were eventually deported not under the Alien Enemies Act (AEA), but under the Immigration and Nationality Act — something they called “unobjectionable.”

“The Supreme Court remanded this case to us when the three named petitioners were still in the country. But we have since learned that the government has removed them. Given this change, we conclude that the appeal is moot,” they wrote.

The ruling sidesteps questions as to the scope of the president’s power when determining how to apply the AEA.

The 1798 Alien Enemies Act enables migrants to be summarily deported amid an “invasion” or “predatory incursion” by a foreign nation. The law was previously invoked during the War of 1812, World War I and World War II, most recently used as the basis for Japanese internment.

In a controversial move, Trump invoked the powers by determining that men in the Venezuelan Tren de Aragua gang could be considered a foreign enemy.

Numerous District Court judges found Trump’s bid to use the designation for gang members was unlawful, determining the gang did not represent a true military threat to the U.S.

The lawsuit at hand concerns a deportation wave originally slated for April 2025, weeks after Trump first invoked the 1798-era law. As a group of men was set to be deported, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) rushed to court on their behalf, prompting the Supreme Court to intervene in the middle of the night to block the flight.

The justices ruled that the migrants were owed at least some due process. They sent the case back to the 5th Circuit to answer broader questions about whether Trump had exceeded his authority.

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