WASHINGTON — The Trump administration Saturday invoked a sweeping wartime authority, which has been used only three times before, to speed up the deportations of migrants affiliated with the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua.
The little-known 18th-century law, the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, gives the president tremendous authority to target and remove undocumented immigrants. The law is designed to be invoked if the US is at war with another country, or a foreign nation has invaded the US or threatened to do so. For that reason, legal experts have argued it would face an uphill battle in court.
In a presidential proclamation, released Saturday, the White House cited its designation of Tren de Aragua as a foreign terrorist organization, saying many of them have “unlawfully infiltrated the United States and are conducting irregular warfare and undertaking hostile actions against the United States.”
The proclamation calls for all those subject to the measure to be immediately arrested, detained, and removed.
The Alien Enemies Act has been invoked three times in US history – all during war – according to the Brennan Center. During World Wars I and II, it was used to justify detentions and expulsions of German, Austro-Hungarian, Italian and Japanese immigrants. The law played a role in the infamous US policy of Japanese internment during World War II, according to the non-partisan law and policy institute.
Earlier Saturday, a federal judge temporarily barred the removal of some undocumented immigrants under the Alien Enemies Act, hours before the Trump administration invoked the law. The temporary restraining order applies only to those who filed a lawsuit Saturday, but the judge will hold a hearing Saturday evening about whether to apply the order more broadly.
The Department of Justice is appealing the order.
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