President Donald Trump’s attempt to use the Alien Enemies Act to deport certain Venezuelan immigrants was met by an immediate legal challenge, a court order barring the action and a reported violation of the ruling by the administration.
The centuries-old law gives a president sweeping authority to detain and deport immigrants suspected of subversive acts. It was last used during World War II for the mass internment of Americans and immigrants of German, Japanese and Italian descent.
The whirlwind sequence of events began with a March 15 presidential proclamation invoking the 1798 act to deport immigrants Trump accuses of being members of the Tren de Aragua gang, which the order identifies as a “terrorist” organization directed by Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro to conduct “irregular warfare” and “hostile actions” across the U.S.
“TdA operates in conjunction with Cártel de los Soles, the Nicolas Maduro regime-sponsored, narco-terrorism enterprise based in Venezuela, and commits brutal crimes, including murders, kidnappings, extortions, and human, drug, and weapons trafficking,” Trump’s order alleges.
“TdA has engaged in and continues to engage in mass illegal migration to the United States to further its objectives of harming United States citizens, undermining public safety, and supporting the Maduro regime’s goal of destabilizing democratic nations in the Americas, including the United States.”
James Boasberg
The American Civil Liberties Union and Democracy Forward responded with a lawsuit challenging the proclamation on behalf of five detained Venezuelan men and alleged gang members, resulting in a temporary restraining order issued March 15 by Chief Judge James E. Boasberg of the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C.
Boasberg later widened the order to keep the administration from using the act to deport other accused immigrants, and he ordered any aircraft transporting deportees at that time to immediately return to the U.S.
The litigation argues the act is not designed as a tool for mass deportations and that it can be invoked only during a time of declared war or eminent invasion. The law, the suit explains, “has been used only three times in our nation’s history: the War of 1812, World War I and World War II.”
Despite Boasberg’s order, the administration deported about 300 Venezuelans to El Salvador, although the administration claims it did not violate the injunction, NBC News reported.
“The written order and the administration’s actions do not conflict,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said. “Moreover, as the Supreme Court has repeatedly made clear — federal courts generally have no jurisdiction over the president’s conduct of foreign affairs, his authorities under the Alien Enemies Act, and his core Article II powers to remove foreign alien terrorists from U.S. soil and repel a declared invasion.”
Vice President JD Vance celebrated the removals on X. “There were violent criminals and rapists in our country. Democrats fought to keep them here. President Trump deported them.”
Skye Perryman
According to Axios, two other administration officials said the order was ignored because it didn’t apply: “The White House says it ignored a court order to turn around two planeloads of alleged Venezuelan gang members because the flights were over international waters and therefore the ruling didn’t apply.”
ACLU and Democracy Forward filed an action March 17 asking the court to seek clarification from the administration about its compliance with the restraining order.
Invoking the Alien Enemies Act represents a new low for the federal government, Democracy Forward President Skye Perryman said.
“The United States is not at war, nor has it been invaded.”
“The United States is not at war, nor has it been invaded. The president’s anticipated invocation of wartime authority — which is not needed to conduct lawful immigration enforcement operations — is the latest step in an accelerating authoritarian playbook. From improperly apprehending American citizens, to violating the ability of communities to peacefully worship, to now improperly trying to invoke a law that is responsible for some of our nation’s most shameful actions, this administration’s immigration agenda is as lawless as it is harmful.”
The White House action is simply illegal, said Lee Gelernt, deputy director of the ACLU’s Immigrants’ Rights Project and lead counsel. “The Trump administration’s intent to use a wartime authority for immigration enforcement is as unprecedented as it is lawless. It may be the administration’s most extreme measure yet, and that is saying a lot.”
Lee Gelernt
Use of the act usually has come with historic human rights abuses, said Anna Gallagher, executive director of the Catholic Legal Immigration Network.
“CLINIC is deeply alarmed by the misuse of this obscure law to strip immigrants suspected of gang activity of due process. We all want safe communities, but this is an unjust and unnecessary abuse of power,” she said. “The United States is not at war, and this policy will undoubtedly harm innocent people by denying them basic legal rights. As Catholics, we must raise our voices to protect legal rights which uphold the dignity of all people.”
“It was wrong in the 1940s and it is wrong today to round up immigrants based solely on their nationality or race,” said Erol Kekic, senior vice president of programs at Church World Service.
“Weaponizing a 200-year-old law to facilitate mass deportations is pure xenophobia and would repeat one of the darkest episodes in United States history,” he said. “This invocation is also a misuse of a wartime authority that applies only when there is a declared war or an invasion by a foreign nation. As it has done repeatedly in the past, the Trump administration is once again falsely and shamefully conflating immigrants with crime.