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The court directed the Trump administration not to remove Venezuelans held in the Bluebonnet Detention Center "until further order of this court." Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito dissented.

The high court acted in an emergency appeal from the American Civil Liberties Union contending that immigration authorities appeared to be moving to restart removals under the . The Supreme Court said earlier this month that deportations could proceed only if those about to be removed had a chance and "reasonable time" to argue their case in court.

"We are deeply relieved that the Court has temporarily blocked the removals. These individuals were in imminent danger of spending the rest of their lives in a brutal Salvadoran prison without ever having had any due process," ACLU lawyer Lee Gelernt said in an email.

The Trump administration later Saturday filed paperwork urging the high court to reconsider its hold.

 “We are confident we will ultimately prevail against the onslaught of meritless litigation brought by radical activists who care more about the rights of these terrorist aliens than those of the American people,� White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a social media post.

On Friday, two federal judges refused to step in as lawyers for the men sought to prevent their deportation. Early Saturday, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals also refused to issue an order protecting the detainees from being deported.

The ACLU already sued to block deportations of two Venezuelans held in the Bluebonnet facility and sought an order barring removals of any immigrants in the region under the Alien Enemies Act.

In an emergency filing early Friday, the ACLU warned that immigration authorities were accusing other Venezuelan men held there of being members of the Tren de Aragua gang, which would make them subject to President Donald Trump's use of the act.

The act was invoked only three previous times in U.S. history, most recently during World War II to hold Japanese-American civilians in internment camps. The Trump administration contended it gives them power to swiftly remove immigrants they identified as members of the gang, regardless of their immigration status.

Following the unanimous high court order April 9, federal promptly issued orders barring removal of detainees under the AEA until the administration provides a process for them to make claims in court.

However, no such order was issued in the far northern area of Texas that covers Bluebonnet.

U.S. District Judge James Wesley Hendrix, a Trump appointee, this past week declined to bar the administration from removing the two men identified in the ACLU lawsuit because Immigration and Customs Enforcement filed sworn declarations that they would not be immediately deported. He also balked at issuing a broader order prohibiting removal of all Venezuelans in the area under the act because he said removals hadn't started yet.

The ACLU's Friday filing included sworn declarations from three separate immigration lawyers who said their clients in Bluebonnet were given paperwork indicating they were members of Tren de Aragua and could be deported by Saturday. In one case, immigration lawyer Karene Brown said her client, identified by initials, was told to sign papers in English even though the client only spoke Spanish.

"ICE informed F.G.M. that these papers were coming from the President, and that he will be deported even if he did not sign it," Brown wrote.

Gelernt said in a Friday evening hearing before District Judge James E. Boasberg in Washington, D.C., that the administration moved Venezuelans to its south Texas immigration facility for deportation. However, since a judge banned deportations in that area, it funneled them to the Bluebonnet facility. He said witnesses reported the men were loaded on buses Friday evening to be taken to the airport.

With Hendrix not agreeing to the ACLU's request for an emergency order, the group turned to Boasberg, who initially halted deportations in March. The Supreme Court ruled the orders against deportation could only come from judges in jurisdictions where immigrants were held, which Boasberg said made him powerless Friday.

Boasberg this past week found probable cause that the Trump administration by disobeying his initial deportation ban. He was concerned the paper ICE gave to those held did not make clear they had a right to challenge their removal in court, which he believed the Supreme Court mandated.

Drew Ensign, an attorney for the Justice Department, disagreed, saying people slated for deportation would have a "minimum" of 24 hours to challenge their removal in court. He said no flights were scheduled for Friday night and he was unaware of any Saturday, but the Department of Homeland Security said it reserved the right to remove people then.

ICE said it would not comment on the litigation.

Also Friday, a Massachusetts judge made permanent his on the administration deporting immigrants who exhausted their appeals to countries other than their home countries unless they are informed of their destination and given a chance to object if they'd face torture or death there.

Some Venezuelans were sent to El Salvador under the act and housed in a notorious prison.