The US treated alleged Nazis better during World War II than the Trump administration treated hundreds of deported Venezuelan migrants last week, a federal judge said Monday, according to media reports.

Judge Patricia Millett, with the US Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, heard arguments over President Donald Trump's use of the Alien Enemies Act (AEA) last week to deport more than 200 alleged members of the Venezuelan gang Tren De Aragua. She explained in the courtroom that all of them were deported to El Salvador without due process.

"There were planeloads of people. There were no procedures in place to notify people," said Millett. "Nazis got better treatment under the Alien Enemies Act."

Millett noted that alleged Nazis during WWII were given hearing boards and were subject to established regulations, pointing out that the alleged Tren De Aragua gang members were given no such rights.

"There's no regulations, and nothing was adopted by the agency officials that were administering this. The people weren't given notice. They weren't told where they were going. They were given those people on those planes on that Saturday and had no opportunity to file habeas or any type of action to challenge the removal under the AEA," said Millett.

"Y'all could have put me up on Saturday and thrown me on a plane, thinking I'm a member of Tren de Aragua, and giving me no chance to protest it and say somehow it's a violation of presidential war powers. For me to say, 'excuse me, no, I'm not, I'd like a hearing,'" the judge continued.

"Well, Your Honor, we certainly dispute the Nazi analogy," said Deputy Assistant Attorney General Drew Ensign, who argued that some of the men were given the right to file petitions against their deportations.

However, Millett questioned whether the deportees realistically had an opportunity to challenge the government's move before they were flown out of the United States.

"So your theory is that they don't get the challenges until they're in the Salvadorian jail?," said the judge. "Are you saying that they don't have a right, until they're removed from the United States, in US custody, to challenge?"

The Trump administration asked the Court of Appeals to overturn a temporary restraining order issued last Saturday blocking the use of the Alien Enemies Act for deportations. A decision on that issue is expected sometime this week.

"The problem here is that they are challenging implementation of a proclamation in a way that never gave anyone a chance to say, 'I'm not covered,'" said Millett.

"And if your argument is we didn't have to do that, it's an intrusion on the president's war powers, the courts are paralyzed to do anything...that's a misreading of precedent, misreading of the text of the Alien Enemies Act," she added.

The temporary restraining order of the Alien Enemies Act ruled that Trump's "unprecedented use" of the AEA does not remove the government's responsibility to ensure the men removed could contest their designation as alleged gang members.

If the issue is not resolved in the DC Circuit Court, the Trump administration could take the case to the US Supreme Court, where Republicans have a 6-3 majority, including three judges Trump nominated during his first term in office. (AA)

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