The recent Supreme Court ruling on President Donald Trump’s use of the 1798 Alien Enemies Act nodded to the importance of due process in American jurisprudencce. In their opinion finding that the Trump administration could resume removal of Venezuelans with alleged gang ties under the Alien Enemies Act, the U.S. Supreme Court nonetheless also ruled 9–0 that it could only remove Venezuelan detainees with alleged gang ties under the Alien Enemies Act after they received advance notice and a court hearing.

While the justices affirmed that the detainees could seek judicial review, the court held 5–4 that they must contest their deportations individually by filing habeas petitions in the jurisdiction where they are held, not through a nationwide injunction at a D.C. federal court.

“The detainees are confined in Texas, so venue is improper in the District of Columbia,” the unsigned majority opinion said, adding that the Trump administration would likely succeed in its efforts to deport these individuals “as a result.” Still, the court held that the detainees were entitled to receive notice of their pending deportation and “afforded within a reasonable time and in such a manner as will allow them to actually seek habeas relief in the proper venue before such removal occurs.” This part of the ruling was characterized by some as an impediment to the Trump administration’s deportation plan and a small victory for the migrants targeted by it.

But legal experts warn that the path toward exercising their legal rights is by no means an easy one: Migrants caught up in these deportation dragnets will need to overcome a series of hurdles to file a habeas petition, potentially putting the ability to challenge their deportations out of reach.

“It’s a right on paper, but it’s not a right in practice,” said Luis Cortes Romero, an immigration lawyer based in........

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