A US federal appeals court has blocked President Donald Trump’s administration from relying on an old law to urgently deport Venezuelans, alleging their affiliation with gangs and crime.

The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in the United States stated in its ruling that it would issue a preliminary injunction “to prevent deportation because we found no invasion or hostile incursion has occurred.”

In March, Trump had issued a proclamation activating the 1798 Alien Enemies Act, which allows the deportation of foreigners if “any invasion or hostile incursion” occurs, aiming to speed up deportation procedures.

The ruling is significant as the appeals court, based in New Orleans, is the first federal court to issue a direct ruling on this proclamation in a case likely to reach the Supreme Court, according to Reuters.

Trump said in his proclamation that activating the law was necessary in cases involving Venezuelans suspected of belonging to the gang (Tren de Aragua) and other gangs, due to “mass illegal immigration.”

However, the court held that a state’s encouragement of its citizens to enter the US illegally “does not constitute the modern equivalent of sending an armed and organized force to invade, disrupt, or harm” the country. The ruling, written by Judge Leslie Southwick, appointed by former President George W. Bush, stated that “there is no evidence that this mass migration was an armed force or organized groups.”

The decision was supported by Judge Irma Carrillo Ramirez, appointed by President Joe Biden, but opposed by Judge Andrew Oldham, appointed by Trump.

Anand Balakrishnan, a senior attorney at the American Civil Liberties Union who filed the lawsuit against Trump and several senior officials in his administration and agencies including the Department of Homeland Security, said: “The Trump administration’s expansion of expedited deportation procedures has exposed thousands of people to an unfair and arbitrary system full of errors.”

Balakrishnan emphasized that “the court’s decision reaffirms the fundamental principle that people must receive their due process rights when the government seeks to deport them or their family members.”