The Supreme Court on Monday allowed the Trump administration to use an 18th century wartime law to deport Venezuelan migrants, but said they must get a court hearing before they are taken from the United States.

In a bitterly divided decision, the court said the administration must give Venezuelans who it claims are gang members “reasonable time” to go to court.

But the conservative majority said the legal challenges must take place in Texas, instead of a Washington courtroom.

The US Supreme Court has cleared the way for President Donald Trump to use a rarely-invoked wartime powers law to rapidly deport alleged gang members - for now.

A lower court had temporarily blocked the deportation of alleged Venezuelan gang members to El Salvador on 15 March, ruling that the actions under the 1798 Alien Enemies Act needed further scrutiny.

Trump has alleged that the migrants were members of the Tren de Aragua gang "conducting irregular warfare" against the US and could therefore be removed under the Act.

The Supreme Court on Monday granted President Donald Trump’s request to vacate a lower court's ruling barring the administration from using a 1798 wartime immigration law to immediately deport Venezuelan nationals – including alleged members of the Tren de Aragua gang – from the U.S., marking a significant victory for the administration as it advances key immigration priorities.

Justices on the high court ruled 5-4 to grant the administration's request to lift the stay, in a temporary victory for Trump and his allies.

The Trump administration has begun a new wave of visa revocations for international students studying at American universities.

Universities across America said over the weekend that the visas of several international students were revoked. It's unclear if the visa revocations are associated with anti-Israel actions by the affected international students.

The Harvard International Office announced Sunday that three students and two recent graduates from the university have had their student visas revoked amid the Trump administration’s crackdown.

The office did not release the students’ names and said it has referred them to legal counsel. The reasoning for the revocation is unknown, but the office said it was made during a routine records review. 

Colleges around the country are reporting some of their international students’ visas are being revoked unexpectedly, expressing alarm over what appears to be a new level of government scrutiny.

Visas can be canceled for a number of reasons, but college leaders say the government has been quietly terminating students’ legal residency status with little notice to students or schools. That marks a shift from past practice and leaves students vulnerable to detention and deportation.

The Trump administration has asked the Supreme Court to lift a District Court judge’s order blocking the use of an obscure 18th century law to summarily expel Venezuelan immigrants. Earlier this month, the administration sent hundreds of immigrants to an El Salvador prison because, officials alleged, they were members of a dangerous gang.

Sparks flew during a closely-watched federal appeals court hearing Monday afternoon — with a Barack Obama-appointed judge tearing into the Trump administration’s plans to mass-deport alleged members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua.

A federal judge rejected the Trump administration’s bid to lift an order blocking deportations under an 18th-century law, saying that the people being removed should have a chance to challenge their designation as members of a dangerous Venezuelan gang.

The United States treated alleged Nazis better during World War II than the Trump administration treated Venezuelan migrants last week, a federal appeals judge told a Justice Department lawyer during a court hearing Monday.