DOJ · Donald Trump · White House · Axios
Trump's DOJ turns to a never-leveraged court for its next deportation fight
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The Justice Department is asking a never-before-used federal court to remove an unnamed noncitizen, the first use of a 30-year-old process that could give President Trump a new tool for his deportation agenda.
Key facts
- The DOJ considered 100 possible cases by 2000 and rejected all of them, according to a 9/11 Commission staff report
- The Justice Department is asking a never-before-used federal court to remove an unnamed noncitizen, the first use of a 30-year-old process that could give President Trump a new tool
- Trump invoked the Alien Enemies Act in 2025 to remove Venezuelans his administration accused of belonging to Tren de Aragua
- Congress created the five-judge court in 1996 for cases when ordinary immigration proceedings could expose classified information and threaten national security
Summary
If the Justice Department wins, it could remove people it links to terrorism while keeping much of its evidence secret. A loss could show why this court sat idle for 30 years: The law may demand more than the government wants to provide. The DOJ filed the first application in the Alien Terrorist Removal Court's history last Wednesday. The one-page filing does not name the person, the alleged conduct or the part of the anti-terrorism law the department cited.