Trump Utilizes 18th-Century Wartime Law to Deport Five Venezuelans | US Immigration

Donald Trump has utilized the wartime Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to facilitate the deportation of five Venezuelan nationals from the United States.

In a proclamation issued on Saturday, the White House stated: “Tren de Aragua (TdA) is a recognized Foreign Terrorist Organization with thousands of members, many of whom have unlawfully entered the United States and are engaging in irregular warfare and hostile actions against the country.”

This application of the wartime act occurred only hours after a federal judge temporarily prohibited the Trump administration from employing the 1798 Act to proceed with the deportations of the Venezuelans.

On Saturday, U.S. District Judge James Boasberg of the federal District Court in Washington, D.C., issued a temporary restraining order that halts the deportation for a period of 14 days.

“Given the urgent circumstances that the court has been made aware of this morning, it has determined that an immediate order is necessary to preserve the status quo until a hearing can be conducted,” Boasberg stated in his ruling.

Boasberg’s ruling responds to a lawsuit filed the same day by the American Civil Liberties Union and Democracy Forward, which argue that the Trump administration improperly invoked the Alien Enemies Act.

In the lawsuit, ACLU and Democracy Forward contend that the act has only been invoked three times in U.S. history: during the War of 1812, World War I, and World War II.

“It cannot be applied against nationals of a country – Venezuela – with which the United States is not at war, that is not invading the United States, and that has not conducted a predatory incursion into the United States,” the lawsuit asserts.

“The government’s proclamation would enable agents to immediately place noncitizens on planes without any review of the determination that they are considered alien enemies,” the lawsuit further indicated.

A remote hearing has been scheduled for today at 5 PM before Boasberg. Both ACLU and Democracy Forward intend to request that the temporary restraining order be expanded to protect all individuals at risk of removal under the act, as stated by the civil liberties organizations.

Previously, the president instructed his administration to classify Venezuela’s Tren De Aragua gang as a foreign terrorist entity.

With Trump portraying the gang as a foreign force invading the U.S., civil liberties groups like the ACLU express concern that Trump may unlawfully invoke the 1798 act “during peacetime to hasten mass deportations, bypassing the limitations of wartime authority and the safeguards within immigration law.”

The invocation is anticipated to encounter immediate legal challenges. This 227-year-old law is primarily intended for wartime use, and only Congress possesses the power to declare war. However, the president can invoke the law to respond to a “threatened or ongoing invasion or predatory incursion,” according to the Brennan Center for Justice, a nonpartisan legal and policy authority.

“This law should not be invoked because migration is not an invasion, and we are not in a wartime situation,” stated Juliana Macedo do Nascimento, the deputy director of federal advocacy for United We Dream, an immigrant rights organization. “It is deeply unsettling that we, as immigrants, are being classified as terrorists and invaders.”

Individuals targeted by the Alien Enemies Act could face deportation without a court hearing or asylum interview, and their cases would be subject to wartime authority rather than immigration law.

The Alien Enemies Act specifically permits the president to detain, remove, or deport immigrants based on their country of origin – covering not only citizens of hostile nations but also “natives,” which could include those who have renounced their foreign citizenship and sought legal residency in the U.S.

Historically, the law was also utilized to arrest over 31,000 individuals – primarily of Japanese, German, and Italian descent – as “alien enemies” during World War II, playing a significant role in the mass removal and incarceration of Japanese Americans during that time.

Trump has been building his case for invoking the act for years, framing the surge of migrants at the southern border as an “invasion.” He also foreshadowed this invocation in an executive order on his inauguration day, instructing the secretaries of state to prepare facilities “necessary to expedite the removal” of those subject to the act.

“By invoking the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, I will direct our government to fully utilize the immense power of federal and state law enforcement to eradicate the presence of all foreign gangs and criminal networks inflicting devastating crime on U.S. soil, including in our cities and inner cities,” he proclaimed in his inaugural address.

While anti-immigrant politicians and groups have long pushed for the application of the act in response to illegal border crossings, Macedo do Nascimento notes that existing executive orders and congressional policies already broaden the federal government’s powers to detain and deport immigrants.

“There are already laws that permit mass detention. There are also laws, like the Laiken Riley Act, which would extend the range of individuals who can be detained,” Macedo do Nascimento added. “Thus, the notion of invoking the Alien Enemies Act appears unnecessary. It seems more about crafting a narrative to label immigrants as terrorists.”