The Supreme Court's late-night decision barring the Trump Administration form using the Alien Enemies Act (AEA) against Tren de Aragua (TdA) was a surprise. We found the best explainer of the decision from Andrew R. Arthur at the Center for Immigration Studies.

The key thing is that this decision is not a blanket ban on the AEA. The Court directed the government "not to remove any member of the putative class of detainees" until further notice, while waiting for action from the Fifth Circuit Court. The order effectively halts deportations of alleged TdA members who are being held in the jurisdiction of the Northern District of Texas. This stay came after the Court had previously ruled on April 7 in a related case that AEA detainees must receive proper notice and opportunity to seek habeas relief before removal. Justices Alito and Thomas dissented from the latest order.

The Court has not yet ruled on the substantive question of whether the Trump administration has the power to remove alleged TdA members under the "invasion or predatory incursion" clause of the AEA. The use of the AEA is controversial because it is the first time a president has invoked the AEA outside of a declared war. The Supreme Court appears to be waiting for lower courts (likely Judge Rodriguez in the Southern District of Texas) to rule on the legality of using the AEA in this context before making a final determination. Until these substantive legal questions are resolved, additional removals under Presidential Proclamation 10903 are unlikely to proceed.

The case emerged in a broader context of increased Venezuelan migration to the United States. According to the article, between FY 2022 and January 2025, CBP encountered over 9.4 million inadmissible aliens at borders and ports, with 902,000 being Venezuelan nationals. The Trump administration designated TdA, a Venezuelan criminal organization, as a foreign terrorist organization in February 2025, claiming it operates with the Maduro regime and has used mass migration to further criminal objectives in the U.S. On March 11, President Trump invoked the AEA through Presidential Proclamation 10903, allowing for the apprehension and removal of Venezuelan citizens who are TdA members. The administration subsequently flew 238 alleged members to El Salvador on March 15, triggering multiple legal challenges that have now reached the Supreme Court.

Policy News You Need To Know

#SmallBusiness #CTA #FinReg — C. Jarrett Dieterle of the Manhattan Institute explains why recent regulatory reforms under the Corporate Transparency Act are great news for family farms and other small businesses. As a small business owner himself, your correspondent heartily endorses this.

#FinReg — Speaking of FinReg: the Federal Reserve Board announced its intention to modify the annual bank stress tests. American Action Forum's Douglas Holtz-Eakin has a good explainer.

#FinReg — Lots of FinReg stuff today! The Treasury Department’s outbound investment rule that went into effect in January 2025 restricts certain types of non-passive investment by US persons in three critical technology sectors: semiconductors, AI, and quantum. Then in February, the Trump administration issued the America First Investment Policy (AFIP) memo, which indicates that US outbound investment restrictions could be extended to include passive US investment in Chyna securities. Moreover, the memo proposes expanding the restricted technology sectors. What would be the impact of these moves? Rhodium Group's MPER China service tries to answer this question.

#AI #OSS — In the world of AI policy, the issue of open source AI has been a particular sticking point. Conservatives and free speech advocates, in particular, see it is a magic wand to avoid AI censorship. But the issue is much broader than that and R Street have, thankfully, produced a very thorough study of the issue, written by Haiman Wong.

#AI #Chyna — Speaking of AI, and open source AI, this is an interesting WSJ op-ed by Hudson Institute's Thomas J. Duesterberg, pointing out that China's DeepSeek was trained on essentially stolen US data, and putting forward some ideas to prevent more of this type of theft: more export controls, more investment controls, sanctions on Chinese banks, tit-for-tat bars on Chinese firms (mimicking China's bars on US tech firms), and finally enlisting allies in these anti-China efforts.

#Immigration — Excellent post from Jason Richwine of the Center for Immigration Studies pointing out that there is no empirical evidence, and in fact empirical evidence strongly suggests the contrary, that there exist jobs "Americans won't do."

#Trade — AEI's Michael R. Strain is an indefatigable opponent of tariffs and defender of free trade. At Project Syndicate, he makes an important argument: even if it was desirable to reshore manufacturing activity to the US, this still wouldn't bring back manufacturing jobs, since most of them have been automated anyway.

#SinglePayer — Good reminder that single-payer healthcare is a disaster. "Canadian healthcare" has become synonymous with murder, and for good reason. At The Daily Economy, Vincent Geloso has a good rundown of the costs of rationing in the Canadian health system.