Trump's Supreme Court Win Allowing Deportation of Venezuelans Comes With Major Caveat

The Supreme Court allowed the Trump administration on Monday to resume deportation flights of alleged Venezuelan gang members to an infamous prison in El Salvador, but with a large caveat: those who legally challenge the decision must be given time for judicial review.

The court's decision was split, with five justices voting in favor of granting the Justice Department relief to use the wartime Alien Enemies Act to remove the migrants, who the administration claims are part of Venezuelan-born gang Tren de Aragua. Justice Amy Coney Barrett joined the three liberal justices in their dissent.

In the unsigned ruling, the majority said that notices for targeted deportees "must be afforded within a reasonable time and in such manner as will allow them to actually seek habeas relief in the proper venue before such a removal occurs."

"The only question is which court will resolve that challenge. For the reasons set forth, we hold that venue lies in the district of confinement," the court detailed.

Little is known about the 238 Venezuelan men who have already been deported and that El Salvador's President Nayib Bukele accepted in its mega-prison system known as CECOT. But through family denouncements and law firms, it has been confirmed that among the group there is a makeup artist, a soccer player, a food delivery driver and more. None of them have been previously accused of committing a crime.

The Trump administration has yet to release the identities of the men it sent to El Salvador. But CBS News recently obtained internal government documents listing the names of the prisoners and any known criminal information, revealing that the vast majority of them did not commit any serious criminal, violent offense.

According to the report, at least 22% of the men on the list have criminal records in the U.S. or abroad. Most are for non-violent offenses like theft, shoplifting and trespassing. About a dozen have been accused of murder, rape, assault and kidnapping.

For 3% of those deported it is unclear whether a criminal record exists. However, the news outlet could not find criminal records for 75% of the Venezuelans, or 179 men, who are sitting in a foreign prison.

Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote the dissent, calling the ruling "suspect" and accusing the Trump administration of largely ignoring "its obligations to the rule of law."

"The government's conduct in this litigation poses an extraordinary threat to the rule of law. That a majority of this court now rewards the government for its behavior with discretionary equitable relief is indefensible. We, as a nation and a court of law, should be better than this," reads a passage of Sotomayor's dissent.

Trump, in the meantime, celebrated the ruling, saying the Supreme Court "has upheld the Rule of Law in our Nation by allowing a President, whoever that may be, to be able to secure our Borders, and protect our families and our Country, itself."