Former President Donald Trump is referencing a 227-year-old statute designed to safeguard the US during periods of war, aiming to facilitate mass deportations of Venezuelans.
Trump claims that individuals connected to the Venezuelan criminal organization Tren de Aragua are “engaging in irregular warfare” against the United States, which he argues grants him the authority to deport them under the Alien Enemies Act of 1798.
This legislation permits the United States to detain and remove individuals who pose a threat to national security without adhering to due process during wartime. Its last application involved the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II.
There remains uncertainty regarding the legality of Trump’s interpretation of the law, prompting rights organizations to challenge him in court.
Trump’s announcement on Saturday was largely anticipated, wherein he stated Tren de Aragua was “carrying out, attempting, and threatening an invasion or predatory incursion upon the territory of the United States”.
He had previously vowed to utilize this controversial law for mass deportations during his campaign last year.
Prior to Trump’s proclamation on Saturday, the American Civil Liberties Union and other civil rights organizations had filed a lawsuit to prevent him from employing this legal tactic.
A judge has since issued a temporary injunction on its application and is expected to review the case soon.
Nonetheless, this move is likely to energize Trump’s base, who largely supported his return to the White House based on his commitments to combat illegal immigration and reduce the costs of everyday goods. Since his inauguration in January, he has quickly advanced efforts to reform the US immigration framework.
Civil rights advocates and some legal experts are labeling this invocation as unprecedented, pointing out that the Alien Enemies Act has historically been applied only following an official declaration of war by the US. According to the Constitution, the authority to declare war rests solely with Congress.
Trump’s proclamation states that all Venezuelan citizens in the US aged 14 and older who are identified as members of Tren de Aragua and are “not actually naturalized or lawful permanent residents” are to be “apprehended, restrained, secured, and removed as Alien Enemies.”
However, Trump does not specify in the proclamation how US officials will ascertain a person’s membership in this violent transnational gang.
By invoking this law, rather than utilizing existing immigration legislation that provides him with “ample power” to deport members of the gang, Trump is not required to demonstrate that the detainees are indeed part of Tren de Aragua, as noted by Katherine Yon Ebright, counsel at the Brennan Center for Justice, in her statement.
“He aims to circumvent any obligation to present evidence or convince a judge that someone is truly a gang member prior to their deportation,” she explained.
“The only motivation to invoke such powers is to facilitate widespread detentions and deportations of Venezuelans based on their ethnic background, rather than substantiated gang-related activities that could be proven in immigration hearings.”
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