A federal judge is stepping in to block Donald Trump as the president tried to invoke the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to speed up mass deportations of migrants.
On Saturday (March 15), Donald Trump and his administration invoked an 18th-century law, known as the Alien Enemies Act of 1798. Under the sweeping wartime authority, which has been used only three times before, Trump looks to speed up the mass deportations of migrants, specifically affiliated with the Venezuelan gang, Tren de Aragua.
In a presidential proclamation released on Saturday, the White House dubbed Tren de Aragua as a foreign terrorist organization. The statement claimed many alleged gang members have “unlawfully infiltrated the United States and are conducting irregular warfare and undertaking hostile actions against the United States.” The Donald Trump administration proclamation further calls for everyone subject to the 18th-century law to face an immediate arrest, detainment, and deportation.
The Alien Enemies Act Of 1798 gives the president an immense amount of authority to target and deport undocumented immigrants in America. The law’s purpose is to help the president if the United States is at war with another country, or a foreign nation invades the U.S. or threatens to do so. Subsequently, legal experts warn that if invoked by POTUS, they would face tons of pushback in court—which is exactly what happened to Trump.
ACLU And Judge Push Back On Donald Trump’s Use Of Alien Enemies Act Of 1798
Hours before Donald Trump and his administration invoked the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, a federal judge stepped in to block it. Earlier Saturday morning, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and Democracy Forward filed an extraordinary lawsuit in federal court in Washington, D.C. In their filing, they argued that the order would identify the Venezuelan gang, Tren de Aragua, as a “predatory incursion” by a foreign government and seek to deport any Venezuelan in the country as a member of that gang, regardless of the facts.
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Agreeing with the filing, James E. Boasberg, Chief Judge of the D.C. Circuit, implemented a temporary restraining order. For 14 days under the act, the order prevents the deportation of the five Venezuelans who are already in immigration custody and believed they were being moved to be deported. Judge Boasberg said his order was “to preserve the status quo.” He also scheduled a hearing for later in the evening to see if the order should protect all Venezuelans in the United States.
Donald Trump and his administration’s Department of Justice quickly appealed the judge’s initial temporary restraining order to the DC Circuit Court of Appeals.
As mentioned, the Alien Enemies Act has only been invoked three times in U.S. history, and each time during a war. According to the Brennan Center, U.S. officials enacted it during World War I and World War II. At the time, the law justified detentions and deportations of German, Austro-Hungarian, Italian, and Japanese immigrants. The law played a role in the infamous U.S. policy of Japanese internment during World War II.
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