Claiming the United States is being attacked by Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan prison gang, President Donald Trump on Saturday invoked the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to order the rapid detention and deportation of all Venezuelan migrants suspected of being members of TdA, treating them as wartime enemies of the U.S. government.
The president argued, in his proclamation, that members of the Venezuelan gang are “conducting irregular warfare and undertaking hostile actions against the United States.”
The Alien Enemies Act
The Alien Enemies Act is a wartime authority that allows the president to detain or deport the “natives” and citizens of an enemy nation without a hearing and based only on their country of birth or citizenship. It has been invoked just three times in American history, each during a major conflict: the War of 1812, World War I, and World War II. It is best known for its role in Japanese incarceration during World War II, a shameful part of U.S. history for which Congress and several presidents have apologized.
A federal judge temporarily blocked the Trump administration’s ability to use the Alien Enemies Act on Saturday evening. The judge also ordered any airborne planes carrying those migrants to return to the U.S.
“The president’s invocation of a wartime authority for peacetime immigration enforcement is a manifest abuse and injustice,” Katherine Yon Ebright, counsel at the Brennan Center’s Liberty and National Security program, told The Intercept. “The Alien Enemies Act was last used to intern 31,000 people during World War II; it is shameful to try to revive this outdated and discriminatory law to target immigrants in modern-day America.”
The Alien Enemies Act’s accelerated removal process ensures that those subject to the Trump’s proclamation would not be able to claim asylum or go through the normal immigration court process. Advocates worry that invoking the act would allow for deportations regardless of a person’s immigration status or criminal record.
U.S. District Judge James Boasberg ordered a 14-day halt to deportations covered by Trump’s proclamation.
Gov-Politics
