DOJ activates dormant terrorism deportation court for first time

The Justice Department has filed the first petition ever sent to the Alien Terrorist Removal Court, activating a secretive tribunal Congress created nearly 30 years ago but that had never before handled a case.[0]

The filing, made Wednesday, asks the court to consider removing an unnamed person from the United States under laws covering alleged “alien terrorists.” Chief Judge Joan Ericksen, a federal judge in Minnesota, held a hearing Thursday and told the government it had not fully connected the person’s alleged conduct to the specific legal provisions DOJ invoked.abcnews

Ericksen ordered the department to submit more information by Wednesday, writing that the government could use “more thoughtful consideration” before the court proceeds.eagletribune

The court was established under the 1996 Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act. The statute lets the attorney general or deputy attorney general approve sealed applications seeking deportation on terrorism grounds; if the application is accepted, the government must then prove its case in a public hearing.transylvaniatimes

The case matters because it tests a legal tool that had existed only on paper. The five-judge court is selected by the chief justice and had received no applications or held hearings before this filing, according to summaries cited in the reporting.independent

The move also fits a broader push by the Trump administration to use national-security authorities in immigration cases, including prior reliance on the 1798 Alien Enemies Act against Venezuelan migrants accused by officials of gang ties. In a related hearing last year, Judge James Boasberg noted that Congress had created the Alien Terrorist Removal Court for national-security deportation cases — “which would be a first,” he said.[0]