President Donald Trump invoked the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 on Saturday, ordering the immediate detention and deportation of all Venezuelan migrants suspected of being members of the Tren de Aragua gang. The move marks an unprecedented use of the 227-year-old wartime law, which has previously only been applied during declared wars.
Trump’s proclamation claims the Venezuelan gang is staging an “invasion or predatory incursion” into the U.S., meeting the legal threshold for invoking the act. The order directs Homeland Security and the Justice Department to detain and remove all non-citizen, non-resident Venezuelans linked to the gang, bypassing standard immigration proceedings.
However, U.S. District Judge James Boasberg quickly issued a temporary restraining order, blocking deportations for 14 days. The ruling came after a lawsuit from the ACLU and Democracy Forward, arguing that Trump’s use of the law was unconstitutional.
Boasberg ordered any repatriation flights with affected migrants to be returned to the U.S., setting up a major legal battle over Trump’s expansion of executive power in immigration enforcement.
Sources
- CBS News – MBFC Rating
- The Hill – MBFC Rating
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