U.S. District Judge Fernando Rodriguez Jr., of the Southern District of Texas, wrote in an opinion that he does not question the executive branch’s authority to direct the detention and removal of aliens who engage in criminal activity, and he noted the administration can continue to rely on the Immigration and Nationality Act for those proceedings.

But Rodriguez, who was nominated in Trump's first term, wrote that the question at the center of the lawsuit was whether Trump could use the Alien Enemies Act to detain and remove Venezuelans who were members of Tren de Aragua, and he argued that "the historical record renders clear that the President’s invocation of the AEA through the Proclamation exceeds the scope of the statute and is contrary to the plain, ordinary meaning of the statute’s terms."

Rodriguez also granted a petition for a class status, writing that the "special circumstances of this case" allowed for that remedy because the suit involved "common questions of law that may prove dispositive as to all Venezuelan aliens in the Southern District of Texas."

In a final judgment and permanent injunction, Rodriguez wrote that the administration was permanently enjoined from using the Alien Enemies Act to deport, transfer or remove the plaintiffs and other members of the class, but wrote that they were not prohibited from "proceeding with removal proceedings or otherwise acting" based on the Immigration and Nationality Act.