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By Ted Hesson and Susan Heavey
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Trump administration deported more alleged Venezuelan and MS-13 gang members to El Salvador over the weekend, the U.S. State Department said on Monday, even as questions arose in a legal challenge over the process to determine gang members.
Seventeen alleged violent criminals tied to Tren de Aragua and MS-13 were transported by the U.S. military on Sunday night, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement, adding that the deportees included murderers and rapists.
State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce declined to comment on Monday when asked what authority the administration had used to deport the latest group of Venezuelans and Salvadorans.
President Donald Trump on March 15 invoked the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, a rarely used wartime law, to target alleged members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua.
A federal judge later temporarily blocked the policy following a legal challenge brought by the American Civil Liberties Union. Family members of some of those deported have denied that they have gang ties.
While new deportations under the Alien Enemies Act would be a violation of the court order, the administration could use standard immigration processes for removals.
The administration asked the U.S. Supreme Court to lift the halt on Trump's use of the law after a federal appeals court left it blocked last week.
GANG DETERMINATIONS
In a court filing over the weekend, ACLU said it appeared the administration was using a checklist called the Alien Enemy Validation Guide to determine membership in Tren de Aragua, raising questions about the process.
The most heavily weighted factors in the checklist were prior criminal convictions tied to Tren de Aragua, self-professed membership, and conducting phone calls about gang business with known members, according to the document. But under the rubric, tattoos, clothing and hand gestures could also be used to establish membership - factors that experts cited in the case said were not reliable indicators.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt defended the process used by U.S. immigration agents to make gang determinations in response to a reporter's questions on Monday.
"There is a litany of criteria that they use to ensure that these individuals qualify as foreign terrorists and to ensure that they qualify for deportation," Leavitt said.
A list of 16 deportees published by a Fox News reporter and confirmed by the White House showed 12 people with criminal convictions, one self-admitted gang member, and three facing charges.
(This story has been refiled to fix the name of the Alien Enemy Validation Guide in paragraph 8)
(Reporting by Ted Hesson and Susan Heavey; Additional reporting by Humeyra Pamuk and Kristina Cooke; Editing by Nick Zieminski, Andrea Ricci and Marguerita Choy)
