President Donald Trump has issued a proclamation invoking the Alien Enemies Act, a 1798 law providing for deportations of non-citizens during times of war or invasion.
The proclamation targets members of the Tren de Aragua (TdA) gang, which Trump links to the socialist regime in Venezuela. Trump declared TdA a foreign terrorist organization in February.
It’s a rare use of the act since its passage—and is currently in legal limbo after several groups sued the administration.
Meanwhile, it’s already been used as the basis for a deportation flight carrying hundreds of Venezuelan nationals to El Salvador under an agreement announced a day earlier.
The law allows the president to “apprehend, restrain, secure and remove, as alien enemies” citizens of a hostile nation during declared wars or times of invasion.
The legislation has since been used in rare instances across U.S. history, each during wartime: It was invoked during the War of 1812, World War 1, and World War 2.
Trump’s proclamation is the first attempted use of the legislation since the mid-20th century and is the first of its kind which does not rely on a state of declared war.
Rather, Trump’s proclamation is based on the alternative grounds provided by the act, which permit the use of the authority during “any invasion or predatory incursion … against the territory of the United States, by any foreign nation or government.”
In the proclamation, Trump says that TdA is perpetrating such an invasion “at the direction, clandestine or otherwise, of [Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s] regime.”
On March 16, Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced that the authority had been used to deport 250 TdA members to El Salvador, who had agreed to take on the deportees—who Venezuela has refused to take back—in exchange for a $6 million payment from the U.S. It’s unclear when exactly this flight took place relative to the judge’s order.
The proclamation was immediately challenged by lawyers for five of the Venezuelan nationals subject to deportation under the order.
They filed both on behalf of their clients and a class-action basis, a suit filed with support from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and Democracy Forward.
Its core challenge is to the unprecedented nature of Trump’s use of the law in this case, given its past use exclusively in times of war, and claims that the proclamation could be used to deport Venezuelan nationals more broadly.
In an initial ruling, Judge James Boasberg of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia ordered at least a two-week delay on the deportation of the five plaintiffs, and in a later ruling granted class-action certification to all affected by the proclamation.
“I do not believe I can wait any longer and am required to act,” Boasberg said on March 15 ahead of his ruling to block immediate implementation of the order. “A brief delay in their removal does not cause the government any harm.”
Attorney General Pam Bondi and the Department of Justice (DOJ) on March 16 filed an emergency motion in the U.S. District Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia.
“This Court should halt this unprecedented intrusion upon the Executive’s authority to remove dangerous aliens who pose grave threats to the American people,” Bondi wrote.
Few lawmakers have yet weighed in on the weekend developments.
Republicans have been quick to portray Boasberg as an activist judge preventing the deportation of violent criminals from the country.
“It’s ridiculous that a Democratic president can import violent gang members, but a Republican president can’t deport them,” Rep. Mike Collins (R-Ga.) wrote in a post on X.
Rep. Brandon Gill (R-Texas) vowed to file impeachment articles against Boasberg in a post on X.
Not many Democrats have issued statements yet, but some have already taken steps to oppose the use of the Alien Enemies Act.
Rep. Juan Vargas (D-Calif.) and other Democrats on March 13 reintroduced the Neighbors Not Enemies Act, which would overturn the 1798 legislation, in the House. Vargas called the legislation a “draconian, wartime law.” [delete]
The same bill was reintroduced in the Senate by Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii) in January.
The fate of the proclamation lies in the courts, with limited routes for any response by Congress.
Boasberg’s temporary ruling may be overturned by Bondi’s appeal or may be upheld pending further litigation.
—Joseph Lord
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