Trump invokes Alien Enemies Act to target Venezuelan gang
President Donald Trump on Saturday invoked the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to target a Venezuelan gang he accused of "unlawfully infiltrating" the United States.
A federal judge on Saturday temporarily blocked an effort by President Donald Trump to use the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to deport suspected members of a Venezuelan gang he has accused of “unlawfully infiltrating” the country. He also ordered any deportation flights carrying those subject to the presidential proclamation to return to the United States.
Trump on Saturday invoked the rarely used wartime authority, accusing Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua of “infiltrating” Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s regime, including its “military and law enforcement apparatus”; perpetuating “irregular warfare” within the United States and using drug trafficking as a weapon against American citizens.
Hours before the White House published Trump’s proclamation, the American Civil Liberties Union and Democracy Forward filed a lawsuit accusing the White House of preparing to imminently deport five Venezuelan men under the Alien Enemies Act.
Chief Judge of the D.C. District Court James E. Boasberg initially issued a temporary restraining order preventing the Trump administration from deporting the five Venezuelans named in the lawsuit for at least 14 days.
Boasberg has now expanded the decision to apply to “all non-citizens in U.S. custody” who are subject to Trump’s proclamation.
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