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Trump-appointed federal judge blocks use of Alien Enemies Act for Venezuelans in South Texas

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Trump-appointed federal judge blocks use of Alien Enemies Act for Venezuelans in South Texas

17 alleged members of Venezuela’s Tren de Aragua gang and members of the MS-13 gang, who were deported to El Salvador by the US in San Salvador, El Salvador on March 31, 2025.

El Salvador Press Presidency Office/Anadolu via Getty Images


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El Salvador Press Presidency Office/Anadolu via Getty Images

A federal judge in Texas Thursday ruled that President Trump’s use of the Alien Enemies Act (AEA) to detain and deport Venezuelan immigrants from South Texas was “unlawful.”

U.S. District Judge Fernando Rodriguez, Jr., a Trump appointee, wrote that Trump’s invocation of the act “exceeds the scope of the statute and is contrary to the plain, ordinary meaning of the statute’s terms.”

The government, he ruled, does not possess the lawful authority under the AEA, and based on the Proclamation, to detain Venezuelan aliens, transfer them within the United States, or remove them from the country.” The men in this Texas case have been threatened with imminent removal under the Alien Enemies Act, according to the American Civil Liberties Union. They are accused of being members of Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan gang. They remain in detention at El Valle Detention Center in Raymondville, Texas.

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The judge’s decision covers all of the Southern District of Texas, which includes Brownsville, McAllen and Houston.

Other courts have sought to block the Trump administration from deporting anyone under the act. But this is the first time a judge has ruled that the act cannot be used against people who are alleged gang members invading the United States.

“The court ruled the president can’t unilaterally declare an invasion of the United States and invoke a wartime authority during peacetime,” Lee Gelernt, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union and lead counsel for the three Venezuelan plaintiffs, said in a statement. “This is a critically important decision that prevents more people from being sent to the notorious CECOT prison (a maximum security prison in El Salvador).”

After extensive analysis of historical records, Judge Rodriguez concluded in his ruling that the ordinary meaning of “invasion” or “predatory inclusion” when the Alien Enemies Act was enacted required a military incursion. He found that the criminal activities of Tren de Aragua members described in the Proclamation, while harmful, did not constitute an “invasion” or “predatory incursion” as understood under the Act.

“The Proclamation 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,” Judge Rodriguez wrote.

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“Thus, while the Court finds that an ‘invasion’ or ‘predatory incursion’ must involve an organized, armed force entering the United States to engage in conduct destructive of property and human life in a specific geographical area, the action need not be a precursor to actual war.”

The Department of Homeland Security didn’t immediately reply to a request for comment. If the Trump administration appeals the decision, it would go to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of appeals, considered one of country’s most conservative courts. The case could eventually be headed to the U.S. Supreme Court.

President Trump issued a proclamation in March accusing Tren de Aragua of “perpetrating, attempting, and threatening an invasion or predatory incursion against the territory of the United States.”

“(Tren de Aragua) is undertaking hostile actions and conducting irregular warfare against the territory of the United States both directly and at the direction, clandestine or otherwise, of the Maduro regime in Venezuela,” Trump wrote in his proclamation.

Trump has used the Act to remove more than 130 Venezuelan men to a maximum security prison in El Salvador. The administration has accused all of them of being Tren de Aragua, but has conceded not all of them have criminal records.

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The Texas suit is one of several court cases on the topic sparked by Trump’s proclamation and his administration’s actions.

In late March, a three-judge panel from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit upheld a ruling by federal Judge James Boasberg and denied the White House’s use of the wartime authority by a vote of 2 to 1. Judge Patricia Millett, an appointee of former President Barack Obama, cited a lack of opportunity for the alleged gang members to contest the cases.

“The government’s removal scheme denies Plaintiffs even a gossamer thread of due process,” Millett wrote in a concurring statement.

The Supreme Court has already ruled the Trump administration can remove migrants under the Alien Enemies Act, but with a caveat. Migrants alleged to be gang members must be given “reasonable time” to challenge their removal from the country. The high court did not specify a length of time.

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Man Charged With Posting Bomb Instructions Used in New Orleans Attack

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Man Charged With Posting Bomb Instructions Used in New Orleans Attack

Federal prosecutors have filed charges against a former Army serviceman they accused of distributing instructions on how to build explosives that were used by a man who conducted a deadly attack in New Orleans on New Year’s Day last year.

The former serviceman, Jordan A. Derrick, a 40-year-old from Missouri, was charged with one count of engaging in the business of manufacturing explosive materials without a license; one count of unlawful possession of an unregistered destructive device; and one count of distributing information relating to manufacturing explosives, according to a criminal complaint unsealed on Wednesday. The three charges together carry a maximum sentence of 40 years in federal prison.

Starting in September 2023, the authorities said, Mr. Derrick was using various social media sites to share videos of himself making explosive materials, including detonators. His videos provided step-by-step instructions, and he often engaged with viewers in comments, sometimes answering their questions about the chemistry behind the explosives.

The authorities said that Mr. Derrick’s videos were downloaded by Shamsud-Din Bahar Jabbar, 42, who was accused of ramming a pickup truck into a crowd on Bourbon Street in New Orleans on Jan. 1, 2025, in a terrorist attack that killed 14 people and injured dozens. Mr. Jabbar was killed in a shootout with the police. Before the attack, Mr. Jabbar had placed two explosives on Bourbon Street, the authorities said, but they did not detonate.

The authorities later recovered two laptops and a USB drive in a house that Mr. Jabbar had rented. The USB drive contained several videos created by Mr. Derrick that provided instructions on making explosives. The authorities said the explosives they recovered were consistent with the ones Mr. Derrick had posted about.

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Mr. Derrick’s lawyers did not respond to requests for comment.

Mr. Derrick was a combat engineer in the Army, where he provided personnel and vehicle support, the authorities said. He also helped supervise safety personnel during demolitions and various operations. He was honorably discharged in February 2013.

The authorities did not say whether Mr. Derrick had any communication with Mr. Jabbar, or whether the men had known each other. In some of Mr. Derrick’s videos and comments, he indicated that he was aware that his videos could be misused.

“There are a plethora of uh, moral, you know, entanglements with topics, any topic of teaching explosives, right?” he asked in one video, according to the affidavit. “Of course, the wrong people could get it.”

The authorities also said that an explosion occurred at a private residence in Odessa, Mo., on May 4, and the occupant of the residence told investigators that he had manufactured explosives after watching online tutorials from Mr. Derrick.

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Mr. Derrick’s YouTube account had more than 15,000 subscribers and 20 published videos, the affidavit said. He had also posted content on other platforms, including Odysee and Patreon. Some videos were accessible to the public for free, while others required a paid subscription to view.

“My responsibility to my countrymen is to make sure that I serve the function of the Second Amendment to strengthen it,” Mr. Derrick said in one of his videos, according to the affidavit. “This is how I serve my country for real.”

Outside of the income he received through content creation, Mr. Derrick did not have any known employment. He did receive a monthly disability check from Veterans Affairs, the affidavit stated.

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The Girls: “This isn’t ringing alarms to y’all?” : Embedded

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The Girls: “This isn’t ringing alarms to y’all?” : Embedded
Allegations pile up, but Child Protective Services declines to investigate and the school district continues to promote Ronnie Stoner. We include an update at the end of the episode. “The Girls” is a 4-part series from the Louisville Public Media’s investigative podcast, Dig.
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Chud the Builder, Known for Racist Confrontations, Charged With Attempted Murder

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Chud the Builder, Known for Racist Confrontations, Charged With Attempted Murder

A streamer known for hurling racist slurs in public settings under the nickname “Chud the Builder” was charged with attempted murder after a shooting outside a Tennessee courthouse on Wednesday, the authorities said.

The streamer, Dalton Eatherly, 28, was involved in a confrontation with an unidentified man that escalated to gunfire outside the Montgomery County Court in Clarksville, about 50 miles northwest of Nashville, the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement. Both men sustained gunshot wounds and were in stable condition, the office said.

In addition to attempted murder, Mr. Eatherly was charged with employing a firearm during dangerous felony, aggravated assault and reckless endangerment with a deadly weapon, the sheriff’s office said.

Mr. Eatherly, who is white, has accumulated an online audience by livestreaming confrontations in which he uses racist language toward Black people in public.

Law enforcement did not provide any details about the second man involved in Wednesday’s shooting. Mr. Eatherly posted an audio recording online of paramedics treating his wounds in which he claims he shot the man in self-defense.

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A video posted by the website Clarksville Now shows Mr. Eatherly on a stretcher with a microphone attached to his lapel.

Mr. Eatherly is being held at the Montgomery County Jail, pending arraignment, the sheriff’s office said.

According to court records, Mr. Eatherly was scheduled to appear for a court hearing on Wednesday morning in an unrelated case brought by Midland Credit Management, a collections agency.

A lawyer listed in court records from a separate harassment case in which Mr. Eatherly was a defendant in November did not respond to a request for comment.

On Sunday, three days before the shooting in Clarksville, Mr. Eatherly was arrested in Nashville. According to a police affidavit, Mr. Eatherly live streamed his meal at a restaurant, Bob’s Steak and Chop House, on Saturday even though the restaurant had asked him ahead of time not to do so.

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When he was confronted, Mr. Eatherly “became disruptive and started making racial statements, yelling, screaming and otherwise creating a scene,” according to the affidavit.

He then refused to pay for his $370 meal. Mr. Eatherly was charged with theft of services, disorderly conduct and resisting arrest. He was released on $5,000 bond.

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