President Trump invoked a centuries-old law to quickly detain and deport all Venezuelan migrants who are suspected of being part of the Tren de Aragua gang.
Mr. Trump’s enactment of the 1798 Alien Enemies Act effectively treats suspected gang members like wartime enemies of the U.S. government, giving the Trump administration the power to arrest, detain and deport them with no due process.
The president ordered that all Venezuelan citizens 14 and older who are members of the gang, within the U.S. and are not naturalized or lawful permanent residents are “liable to be apprehended, restrained, secured, and removed as Alien Enemies.”
Mr. Trump triggered the seldom-used law, which has only been enacted four times since its creation, for the first time since World War II on Saturday. The president laid the groundwork to use the law earlier this year.
Mr. Trump signed an executive order in January that designated Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan prison gang, as a foreign terrorist organization. That action labeled the gang as “an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security, foreign policy, and economy,” and effectively provided a launch pad for the White House to use the Alien Enemies Act against them.
The White House’s plan also means that those subject to the president’s invocation of the arcane law would not go through the typical immigration court process, nor be able to claim asylum.
However, a federal judge in anticipation of the White House’s plan placed a temporary block on the usage of the law, effectively blocking the removal of Venezuelan men for 14 days. The Justice Department appealed the move.
The law can only be invoked in a time of “declared war,” which requires Congress to weigh in, or when a foreign government threatens or has already launched a “predatory incursion” against the U.S.
It is best known for its usage in World Wars I and II, where the law was used to detain, deport or restrict German, Italian and Japanese immigrants — the law was what allowed the U.S. to use internment camps against Japanese Americans in WWII.
Mr. Trump contended in his order that the gang is closely aligned and “indeed has infiltrated” Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s regime.
“[Tren de Aragua has engaged in and continues to engage in mass illegal migration to the United States to further its objectives of harming United States citizens, undermining public safety, and supporting the Maduro regime’s goal of destabilizing democratic nations in the Americas, including the United States,” Mr. Trump said in his order.
