A federal judge said President Donald Trump could use the Foreign Enemy Act to deport Venezuelan citizens who proved to be members of the Tren de Alagua gang.

The ruling of U.S. District Court Judge Stephanie Haines in Pennsylvania appears to be the first time a federal judge has signed Trump's declaration, calling Tren de Aragua a foreign terrorist organization and citing 18th-century wartime laws to expel people marked as members of the gang.

Also Tuesday, another federal judge in western Texas temporarily banned the Trump administration from using the Alien Enemy Act to expel people in the area. At least three federal judges say Trump is using the AEA to accelerate the deportation of Venezuelan gang members inappropriately.

Haines, appointed by Trump, also said the administration has not issued enough notices to evacuees under the AEA. She ordered the government to provide at least 21 days of notice - far more than some deported 12 hours.

“This case raises major issues that are closely related to the constitutional principles established by the government,” Haines wrote. “In resolving these issues, the court first highlighted the issues that have not been resolved.”

Haines wrote that the ruling did not address whether the government could withdraw personnel under other immigration laws, nor whether Trump could invoke the Foreign Enemy Act to deport people who simply immigrate to the United States and are not members of foreign terrorist organizations. She also did not take the trade-offs under the bill for those suspected of becoming members of other gangs.

But she did say the bill could be used to remove Venezuelan citizens who are at least 14 years old, have no legal immigration status in the United States, and are a member of Tren de Aragua.

“When the work is completed, the court now leaves it to the political branches of the government, and ultimately leaves it to the people who elect these people to decide whether the law and the law that enforces the law continues to reflect their will,” wrote Hines.

Trump issued a announcement in March claiming that Tren de Aragua had invaded the U.S., saying he had special powers to deport him from immigrants who were identified by his administration as a gang member without the usual court lawsuits. After the announcement, the government began to deport people designated as members of Tren de Aragua to the notorious prison in El Salvador.

The announcement and expulsion of animals have sparked a series of lawsuits in several states, including those that led to the Haynes ruling. The case was taken to a Venezuelan national who said he fled to the United States with his wife and children in 2023 after facing blackmail in his country. He was arrested in February after neighbors reported that he was a member of Tren de Aragua, a claim the man strongly denied.

Haines initially approved the case as a class action lawsuit, temporarily preventing the Trump administration from using the AEA to deport any immigrants in their area. But she canceled the designation Tuesday, as long as the person who was deleted gave a 21-day notice in English and Spanish, it could also clear the path to deportation, as well as the "opportunity to hear" of any objection they might encounter.

In the Texas case, a woman said she suffered repeated harassment, assault and intimidation from Venezuela, a form of political persecution. She came to the United States in 2023 and obtained temporary protection status and is currently seeking asylum.

But last month, she was arrested in Ohio and charged with being a gang member, which she denied. She is currently in El Paso and asks U.S. Senior District Court Judge David Briones to block the Trump administration from expelling her and other detainees in the area because she said the president's declaration violated the due process rights of people facing evacuation and falsely equated it with Tren de Aragua's invasion as a foreign government.

Brions said she would likely achieve success in performance and temporarily ban the government from transferring women or others from the area who were accused of being members of Tren de Aragua into other areas or deporting them under the Alien Enemy Act.