A U.S. judge has issued a permanent injunction to prevent President Donald Trump from using the Foreign Enemy Act of 1798 (AEA) (AEA) to expel Venezuelans from South Texas.

Thursday's ruling was the first of its kind - likely to be appealed promptly.

Follow a similar (if temporary) order banning the government's use of laws as Trump seeks to quickly evacuate undocumented immigrants from the country quickly.

U.S. District Court Judge Fernando Rodriguez Jr ruled in his 36-page judgment that the Trump administration "grows beyond the Alien Enemy Act, the Alien Enemy Act of the Wartime Act.

Trump issued an executive declaration on March 15 to appeal to law by members of Venezuelan gang Tren de Alagua. He argued that Tren de Aragua was "persuading an invasion and predatory invasion against the United States", thus demonstrating such extreme measures.

After all, Alien Enemy Law was called only three times during World War II.

But Judge Rodriguez said that while he did acknowledge that the gang participated in "clearly socially harmful" activities, the threat of Tren de Aragua was far from the criteria necessary for the Alien Enemy Act.

"The court concluded that for AEA purposes, (the activity of Tren de Aragua) does not fall into the ordinary meaning of "invasion" or "predatory invasion"" the judge wrote.

“The court concluded that the president was illegal by declaring that the invocation of the AEA exceeded the scope of the regulations.”

Since the Trump administration “has no legal authority under the AEA,” Judge Rodriguez ruled that it cannot use the law to “detain Venezuelan foreigners, transfer them to the United States, or remove them from the country.”

Judge Rodriguez is a Trump-appointed judge who held his current position under his first term as a Republican leader in 2018. His decision applies to southern Texas, including cities such as Houston.

But while this is a similar ruling, it joins a series of legal cases and court rulings weighing the Trump administration’s use of the Foreign Enemy Act.

The law allows the U.S. government to detain and expel citizens of enemy countries during war or invasion. However, its usage has caused great controversy, and critics call it unconstitutional.

For example, the Alien Enemy Act was used as a reason, for example, during World War II, thousands of Japanese Americans and other foreign nationals were imprisoned. The incident led to a formal apology from the United States and provided compensation to Japanese-American survivors decades later.

Trump is believed to be the first president to invoke the Alien Enemy Act outside the wartime period. He used nativist rhetoric to try to make undocumented immigrants a "invasion" of criminals, threatening the violent American community.

Since taking office for the second term, Trump has designated criminal groups such as Tren de Aragua as foreign terrorist organizations, a category that makes non-citizen members not accept the United States.

But the Supreme Court ruled (PDF) that foreign nationals have the right to conduct judicial review of their cases for dismissals under the Foreign Enemy Act.

The lower court also questioned whether the Trump administration's rights to the Foreign Enemy Act violated due process.

Judges in Colorado, Manhattan and Pennsylvania have enacted interim injunctions for the use of the law, and in Washington, D.C., Judge James Boasberg oversees a high-profile case in which three deported deportees were sent to El Salvador, despite the law being used by the law, otherwise imprisoned.

Last month, Boasberg ruled that there were “probable reasons” to despise the Trump administration for violating its orders. In this case, the hearing continues, but Trump and his allies believe that Boasberg surpasses his judicial authority by interfering in matters of foreign policy.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has been one of the plaintiffs used in court with the Alien Enemy Act, and on Thursday it praised Judge Rodriguez's ruling.

"The court ruled that the president could not unilaterally declare an invasion of the United States and invoke wartime authorizations in peacetime," ACLU lawyer Lee Gelernt said in a statement. "The Congress has never used this 18th-century wartime law in this way."

Adriana Pinon, legal director of ACLU's Texas branch, also named the decision as a victory.

“This permanent ban is a major victory in preventing illegal, unilateral administrative actions, which has been terrifying in Texas, especially in border communities,” she said.

“Immigration is an integral part of this country and the country. They are also protected by the laws and constitution of the United States.”

Senior Democrats like Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer also praised Trump's use of the Alien Enemy Act bill was unconstitutional.

"The Trump administration has clearly violated the law and tried to use the Alien Enemy Act to deport people who are improperly processed," Schumer wrote on social media. "The Americans rejected that. The court is putting them on the mission. We will not stop fighting for our constitution."

The Trump administration is expected to appeal Thursday to the New Orleans Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in the conservative court.