U.S. immigration officials issue notice to Venezuelan immigrants who are considered enemies . The notice does not mention how to appeal the order .
On Thursday evening, lawyers helping Venezuelan immigrants most at risk of being removed under an 18th-century wartime powers act received an ominous alert: U.S. immigration officials were handing out notices at a detention facility in Texas, informing migrants that they were considered enemies under the law and would be removed from the country.
“I am a law enforcement officer authorized to apprehend, restrain and remove alien enemies,” read the notice, a copy of which was filed in federal court by the American Civil Liberties Union. “Accordingly, under the Alien Enemies Act, you have been determined to be an alien enemy subject to apprehension, restraint and removal from the United States.”
The notice said the migrant could make a phone call but did not specify to whom. The single-page notice also did not mention any way to appeal the order.
The Supreme Court ruled this month that migrants must receive advance notice that they are subject to removal under the rarely invoked wartim-a-tani law, a law that was designed to stop the deportation of thousands of Mexican migrants who were suspected of conspiring to overthrow U.S. government.
But with the administration's current wave of deportations, undocumented migrants could soon find themselves on a road to eventual expulsion.
Saying that they had heard nothing from the administration, the American Civil Liberties Union on Thursday afternoon filed a federal lawsuit seeking a temporary restraining order to stop deportation of the group
e powers law — and that they must have an opportunity to challenge their removal in court.
"This is the biggest, most significant threat to our democracy in many decades," she said in a statement.
The law — known as the Anti-Terrorism Act — gives the US authorities broad powers to arrest, search and seize the assets of anyone believed to have links to terror groups.
There are several options to challenge a warrant. An individual can appeal a search warrant, an appeal to a US district judge, or a civil suit brought against the government by their spouse, child or parent.
The attorney general said on Thursday that she was looking forward to the possibility of a court challenge in the case, calling on judges to uphold her orders.
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