A federal judge Monday stood by his order barring the Trump administration from deporting alleged Venezuelan gang members without any due process under a 1798 law that had only previously been used during wartime. With an appeals court hearing a challenge to the order, District Court Judge James Boa sberg extended his temporary ruling that immigrants facing deportation must get an opportunity to challenge accusations they are members of the Tren de Aragua gang. “Summary deportation … without giving (the deportee) the opportunity to consider whether to voluntarily self-deport or challenge the basis for the order — is unlawful,” wrote Boasberg. There is “a strong public interest in preventing the mistaken deportation of people based on categories they have no right to challenge,” the judge added. “The public also has a significant stake in the government’s compliance.” President Donald Trump. (AP) Boasberg ruled the deportees, some of whom insist they are not gang members or are victims of mistaken identity, would likely succeed in winning a permanent order barring the invocation of the Alien Enemies Act to whisk them out of the country without any oversight whatsoever. The law, which appears to only apply to nationals of a country at war with the U.S., has only been used three times in history, all of them during actual wars. The most recent use was during World War II. But the Trump administration says the act gives it unchecked power to deport anyone it accuses of being part of Tren de Aragua because it says the group is mounting an “invasion” at the behest of Venezuelan strongman Nicolas Maduro. The migrants were flown to El Salvador, where they are being held indefinitely in a notorious maximum security mega-prison. Boasberg said the government’s argument that the 18th century law could apply to alleged gang members also looks weak.   U.S. District Judge James Boasberg, chief judge of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. (Carolyn Van Houten/The Washington Post via AP) The Trump administration has appealed Boasberg’s temporary restraining order on various legal grounds. A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit heard arguments in the case Monday although it was unclear when it might rule. The Alien Enemies Act allows noncitizens to be deported without any judicial recourse on the grounds that they are part of an invasion force by a hostile nation. Trump issued a proclamation calling Tren de Aragua an invading force, laying the groundwork for the deportation flights. Government attorneys argued in a court filing that Boasberg’s order was an “unprecedented intrusion upon (Trump’s) authority to remove dangerous aliens who pose grave threats to the American people.” Trump and some Republican allies have attacked Boasberg, calling for his impeachment and accusing him of seeking to usurp the power of the presidency. Venezuelan migrants deported from the United States peer through their plane window as they arrive at Simon Bolivar International Airport in Maiquetia, Venezuela, Monday. (Ariana Cubillos/AP) Civil rights attorneys who sued to stop the deportations said the “implications of the government’s position are staggering.” “If the President can designate any group as enemy aliens under the Act, and that designation is unreviewable, then there is no limit on who can be sent to a Salvadoran prison, or any limit on how long they will remain there,” they wrote. ...read more read less