Trump invokes Alien Enemies Act against Venezuelan Tren de Aragua members
The Washington Post reports:
“ President Donald Trump has invoked a centuries-old wartime law to declare that a Venezuelan gang has “invaded” the United States, clearing the way for the “immediate apprehension, detention, and removal” of anyone the government says falls into that category.
Trump issued the proclamation hours after a federal judge in D.C. preemptively blocked the president from deploying the Alien Enemies Act to quickly deport five Venezuelan men on Saturday. Civil rights lawyers say the migrants are at risk of being removed from the country without a court hearing.
U.S. District Judge James E. Boasberg in Washington granted the temporary restraining order to bar the Trump administration from using the law to deport several men the administration alleges have ties to the Venezuela-based gang Tren de Aragua. The American Civil Liberties Union says the men do not have any ties to the criminal group.
The ACLU and Democracy Forward sued the administration Saturday in anticipation of Trump’s plan to invoke the law, claiming that the five migrants face an “imminent risk” of deportation.
“The Trump administration’s intent to use a wartime authority for immigration enforcement is as unprecedented as it is lawless,” said Lee Gelernt, deputy director of the ACLU’s Immigrants’ Rights Project and lead counsel. “It may be the administration’s most extreme measure yet, and that is saying a lot.”
A lawyer for the Trump administration filed a notice of appeal within hours of the restraining order being granted, and ahead of a hearing scheduled for Saturday afternoon.
Boasberg, who was appointed by President Barack Obama, barred the Trump administration from removing the men for 14 days. But the ACLU said it will ask him to extend the order to any migrants who might be at risk of removal under the act. A hearing is scheduled at 5 p.m. in the case.
On the campaign trail, Trump repeatedly promised to use the Alien Enemies Act, saying it was warranted as a measure to combat gangs like Tren de Aragua, which his administration has designated as a terrorist organization. He also previewed his plans to invoke the law on Inauguration Day, mentioning it in his inaugural address and in an executive order.
The order directed the Attorney General and Homeland Security secretary, after consulting with the Secretary of State, to make “operational preparations” in case Trump invoked the act to respond to any “qualifying invasion or predatory incursion against the territory of the United States.” He also ordered them to ready facilities to accelerate deportations.
“By invoking the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, I will direct our government to use the full and immense power of federal and state law enforcement to eliminate the presence of all foreign gangs and criminal networks bringing devastating crime to U.S. soil, including our cities and inner cities,” Trump said in his Jan. 20 inaugural address.
Tren de Aragua has aroused fears throughout the Americas. But experts on criminal organizations say the group has not established a strong foothold in the United States, where its members probably number only in the hundreds — a small fraction of the nearly 800,000 Venezuelans who live in this country.
The Alien Enemies Act allows for the detention and removal of individuals who come from a country with which the United States is at war, or in the event of an “invasion or predatory incursion.” It was last used around World War II to intern Japanese, Italian and German nationals and laid the foundation for the internment of more than 110,000 Japanese Americans.
Legal scholars say invoking the Alien Enemies Act is a way for the Trump administration administration to speed up deportations by steamrolling due process rights. Several predicted the law would be challenged in court because the United States is not at war.
They warned that the Trump administration could use this power to not only target migrants who are in the country illegally but also legal immigrants, especially as he rushes to try to fulfill a campaign promise to carry out the largest domestic deportation campaign in U.S. history.
An estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants live in the United States, many for years, according to federal statistics.
Trump has cast illegal migration at the southern border during President Joe Biden’s first three years in office as an “invasion” that required a wartime response. Since becoming president again, Trump has marshaled U.S. troops to the border, had migrants transported to Guantánamo Bay Naval Station in Cuba and ordered military planes used for deportations.
The latest lawsuit comes weeks before the hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans are set to lose their temporary protected status, putting them at risk for deportation. The Department of Homeland Security recently rescinded the Biden administration’s extension of temporary protected status for Venezuelans who became eligible in 2023, prompting two lawsuits from Venezuelan migrants and civil rights organizations. Venezuelans are the largest group in the United States with temporary protected status. Another group of Venezuelans, who had arrived by 2021, are set to see their status expire in September.”
“ President Donald Trump has invoked a centuries-old wartime law to declare that a Venezuelan gang has “invaded” the United States, clearing the way for the “immediate apprehension, detention, and removal” of anyone the government says falls into that category.
Trump issued the proclamation hours after a federal judge in D.C. preemptively blocked the president from deploying the Alien Enemies Act to quickly deport five Venezuelan men on Saturday. Civil rights lawyers say the migrants are at risk of being removed from the country without a court hearing.
U.S. District Judge James E. Boasberg in Washington granted the temporary restraining order to bar the Trump administration from using the law to deport several men the administration alleges have ties to the Venezuela-based gang Tren de Aragua. The American Civil Liberties Union says the men do not have any ties to the criminal group.
The ACLU and Democracy Forward sued the administration Saturday in anticipation of Trump’s plan to invoke the law, claiming that the five migrants face an “imminent risk” of deportation.
“The Trump administration’s intent to use a wartime authority for immigration enforcement is as unprecedented as it is lawless,” said Lee Gelernt, deputy director of the ACLU’s Immigrants’ Rights Project and lead counsel. “It may be the administration’s most extreme measure yet, and that is saying a lot.”
A lawyer for the Trump administration filed a notice of appeal within hours of the restraining order being granted, and ahead of a hearing scheduled for Saturday afternoon.
Boasberg, who was appointed by President Barack Obama, barred the Trump administration from removing the men for 14 days. But the ACLU said it will ask him to extend the order to any migrants who might be at risk of removal under the act. A hearing is scheduled at 5 p.m. in the case.
On the campaign trail, Trump repeatedly promised to use the Alien Enemies Act, saying it was warranted as a measure to combat gangs like Tren de Aragua, which his administration has designated as a terrorist organization. He also previewed his plans to invoke the law on Inauguration Day, mentioning it in his inaugural address and in an executive order.
The order directed the Attorney General and Homeland Security secretary, after consulting with the Secretary of State, to make “operational preparations” in case Trump invoked the act to respond to any “qualifying invasion or predatory incursion against the territory of the United States.” He also ordered them to ready facilities to accelerate deportations.
“By invoking the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, I will direct our government to use the full and immense power of federal and state law enforcement to eliminate the presence of all foreign gangs and criminal networks bringing devastating crime to U.S. soil, including our cities and inner cities,” Trump said in his Jan. 20 inaugural address.
Tren de Aragua has aroused fears throughout the Americas. But experts on criminal organizations say the group has not established a strong foothold in the United States, where its members probably number only in the hundreds — a small fraction of the nearly 800,000 Venezuelans who live in this country.
The Alien Enemies Act allows for the detention and removal of individuals who come from a country with which the United States is at war, or in the event of an “invasion or predatory incursion.” It was last used around World War II to intern Japanese, Italian and German nationals and laid the foundation for the internment of more than 110,000 Japanese Americans.
Legal scholars say invoking the Alien Enemies Act is a way for the Trump administration administration to speed up deportations by steamrolling due process rights. Several predicted the law would be challenged in court because the United States is not at war.
They warned that the Trump administration could use this power to not only target migrants who are in the country illegally but also legal immigrants, especially as he rushes to try to fulfill a campaign promise to carry out the largest domestic deportation campaign in U.S. history.
An estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants live in the United States, many for years, according to federal statistics.
Trump has cast illegal migration at the southern border during President Joe Biden’s first three years in office as an “invasion” that required a wartime response. Since becoming president again, Trump has marshaled U.S. troops to the border, had migrants transported to Guantánamo Bay Naval Station in Cuba and ordered military planes used for deportations.
The latest lawsuit comes weeks before the hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans are set to lose their temporary protected status, putting them at risk for deportation. The Department of Homeland Security recently rescinded the Biden administration’s extension of temporary protected status for Venezuelans who became eligible in 2023, prompting two lawsuits from Venezuelan migrants and civil rights organizations. Venezuelans are the largest group in the United States with temporary protected status. Another group of Venezuelans, who had arrived by 2021, are set to see their status expire in September.”
