A federal judge has preemptively blocked President Donald Trump from invoking a centuries-old wartime law known as the Alien Enemies Act to quickly deport five Venezuelan men who civil rights lawyers say are at risk of being removed from the country without a court hearing.

U.S. District Judge James Boasberg issued the urgent ruling Saturday morning, citing “exigent circumstances,” just hours after a lawsuit was filed on behalf of five Venezuelan men who say they have been cued up for deportation within hours or days as a result of Trump’s expected decision to invoke the Alien Enemies Act of 1798.