A federal judge in Texas decided against deporting Venezuelan immigrants, saying it was wrong for President Donald Trump to apply the Alien Enemies Act, a 1798 wartime statute.

According to a court opinion obtained by USA TODAY, U.S. District Judge David Briones of El Paso issued the ruling on April 25 and ordered the release of Julio Cesar Sanchez Puentes and Luddis Norelia Sanchez Garcia from a federal detention facility in El Paso. The couple is accused of being members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua.

Briones’ decision ruled that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers failed to provide “any lawful basis” for the couple’s continued detention for an alleged alien enemy violation, according to the judge.

“There is no doubt the Executive Branch’s unprecedented peacetime use of wartime power has caused chaos and uncertainty for individual petitions as well as the judicial branch in how to manage and evaluate the Executive’s claims of Tren de Aragua membership, and the invocation of the Alien Enemies Act as a whole,” wrote Briones, who was inaugurated in 1994 by President Clinton’s administration.

Couple has lived in the Washington area since 2022.

According to the court papers, when the pair entered the United States on October 13, 2022, at El Paso, immigration agents arrested them. They were subsequently arrested and “accused of being aliens to the United States,” according to a criminal complaint filed against the couple.

According to the court judgment, the couple was paroled the next day and relocated to Washington, DC, with their three children after receiving temporary protected status. On April 1, 2025, they were advised that their status had been terminated due to an alleged “association with a Foreign Terrorist Organization,” the paper states.

According to Briones’ verdict, the claims against the pair are based on “multiple levels of hearsay, hidden within declarations of declarants who have no personal knowledge about the facts they are attesting to.”

In an email to USA TODAY on April 26, the couple’s attorney, Chris Benoit, said, “We are thrilled that Cesar and Norelia will finally be able to go home and be reunited with their children.”

“We are grateful for the Court’s careful consideration of all the issues and delighted to see this thoughtful, well-reasoned decision ordering their release,” according to the lawyer. “There was no basis for any of the accusations the government was making against them, and the ordeal they have been through is tremendous.”