New York, New York - The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and other groups filed an emergency lawsuit Tuesday to stop Donald Trump from invoking the Alien Enemies Act to carry out his mass deportation agenda.

"The [Alien Enemies Act] has only ever been a power invoked in time of war, and plainly only applies to warlike actions," the complaint reads.

"(It) cannot be used here against nationals of a country – Venezuela – with whom the United States is not at war, which is not invading the United States, and which has not launched a predatory incursion into the United States."

The petition was filed in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York and aims to halt deportations under the 1798 law within that judicial district.

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Trump, Attorney General Pam Bondi, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, Acting Director of ICE Todd Lyons, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, among others, are named in the suit. The plaintiffs are two Venezuelan men in US immigration custody.

The lawsuit followed a Monday Supreme Court ruling to lift an order blocking the Trump administration's use of the Alien Enemies Act to deport people. The justices added that people subject to removal should receive notice "within a reasonable time and in such a manner" as to be able to challenge their deportations in court.

The 5-4 decision reversed a lower court ruling banning Trump's use of the Alien Enemies Act to deport Venezuelan migrants he claims are gang members without due process. Trump invoked the 18-century law in March to justify the removal of Venezuelan nationals in the US to a notorious prison in El Salvador.

Last Friday, NGOs in El Salvador asked the country's Supreme Court to rule that the jailing of over 200 Venezuelan migrants at the request of the US was unconstitutional.