A federal judge in Texas ruled that President Donald Trump improperly invoked a 227-year-old wartime law to deport accused Venezuelan gang members to an El Salvador prison, setting up what may become yet another high-stakes battle at the U.S. Supreme Court.

The decision Thursday marks the biggest setback yet for Trump’s effort to unilaterally deport suspected gang members under the rarely used Alien Enemies Act of 1798, which he invoked in a March 15 presidential proclamation that triggered a wave of arrests and litigation.

U.S. District Judge Fernando Rodriguez Jr., a Trump appointee, ruled the president’s actions weren’t legal because the U.S. isn’t being invaded by a foreign force or experiencing a “predatory incursion” as required by the law, which would allow for removal of such aliens without due process. Rodriguez’s order permanently bars such removals from his district in southern Texas — the first such order of its kind.

“The historical record renders clear that the president’s invocation of the AEA through the proclamation exceeds the scope of the statute and is contrary to the plain, ordinary meaning of the statute’s terms,” Rodriguez said in the ruling.

The ruling is the first on the merits of Trump’s effort to invoke the AEA to send Venezuelan nationals that the administration alleges are members of the violent Tren de Aragua gang to a notorious prison in El Salvador. The judge didn’t block the administration from deporting individuals under other laws that are commonly used in such situations, namely the Immigration and Nationality Act.

White House spokesman Kush Desai said in a statement that the judge’s ruling “is undoubtedly shocking to the over 77 million Americans who gave President Trump a decisive Election Day mandate to enforce our immigration laws and deport terrorist illegal aliens — and yet time and again we see federal courts try to stop the President from exercising his lawful authorities to protect the American people.”

Vice President JD Vance, in a Fox News interview, signaled the administration would challenge any rulings that limit Trump’s ability to deport immigrants in the country illegally.

“We’re aggressively appealing this stuff,” Vance said. “We do think that the higher appeals courts, and in particular, the Supreme Court, is going to recognize immigration enforcement is a core function of the President of the United States. If you tell the president he’s not allowed to deport illegal criminals, then you’re telling the President he’s not allowed to be the president. We reject that.”

Venezuelan immigrants across the U.S. who face potential deportation have been arguing since March that Trump’s AEA proclamation was unlawful because the U.S. isn’t at war. Many have also denied being gang members, including a Maryland man who was deported under the AEA to his native El Salvador in violation of an earlier immigration court order.

Attorney Lee Gelernt, lead counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union, which is leading the legal fight, said the judge “ruled the president can’t unilaterally declare an invasion of the United States and invoke a wartime authority during peacetime. Congress never meant for this 18th-century wartime law to be used this way. This is a critically important decision that prevents more people from being sent to the notorious CECOT prison.”

A representatives of the Justice Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Rodriguez said Trump’s March 15 proclamation fails to describe conduct that falls under the meaning of the word “invasion” for the purposes of invoking the AEA.

Trump’s order “makes no reference to and in no manner suggests that a threat exists of an organized, armed group of individuals entering the United States at the direction of Venezuela to conquer the country or assume control over a portion of the nation,” the judge wrote.

The judge also said the proclamation “falls short” of describing a predatory incursion as the concept was understood when the law was passed more than two centuries ago. Previously, the AEA had only been used during the War of 1812, World War I and World War II.

“While the proclamation references that TdA members have harmed lives in the United States and engage in crime, the proclamation does not suggest that they have done so through an organized armed attack, or that Venezuela has threatened or attempted such an attack through TdA members,” the judge said.

The U.S. Supreme Court has weighed in twice in these legal fights — most recently to pause deportations from a detention facility in central Texas — but not on the underlying question of Trump’s use of the Alien Enemies Act. Earlier, a majority of justices held that these cases had to be brought individually in the court jurisdictions where detainees are held, spurring a new round of lawsuits across the country.

The case is J.A.V. v. Trump, 25-cv-072, US District Court, Southern District of Texas (Brownsville).

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(With assistance from Zoe Tillman.)

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