El Trump invokes ancient wartime law for deportations
The law was last used to intern Germans and Japanese in the First and Second World Wars, now US President Donald Trump wants to use the "Alien Enemies Act" of 1798 to take action against a Venezuelan criminal cartel.
16.03.2025, 23:13
SDA
At the weekend, Trump ordered the deportation of suspected members of the Venezuelan criminal cartel Tren de Aragua. A federal judge in the capital Washington ordered a temporary halt to this procedure shortly afterwards, as reported by the "New York Times" and the "Washington Post". However, the White House announced that around 300 Venezuelans had been deported to El Salvador.
The Alien Enemies Act allows the President to bypass normal immigration court procedures to detain and deport foreigners who come from an "enemy nation". However, according to consistent media reports, this is only possible if the United States has declared war against a hostile state or if the President believes that the United States is under threat of "invasion or predatory attack". Trump refers to the latter in the order.
Trump speaks of "irregular warfare"
The president argues that Tren de Aragua is carrying out "hostile acts" and "irregular warfare" against US territory - and accuses it of following instructions from the government of Venezuela's authoritarian President Nicolás Maduro. The federal judge in Washington stated that he did not believe that the law provided a justification for the president's actions. He ordered the return of all airplanes used to deport Venezuelans under Trump's order. The government filed an appeal.
White House confirms deportation of almost 300 "terrorists"
The White House then announced on Sunday that almost 300 "terrorists" from the Tren de Aragua gang had been deported on the President's orders. Thanks to the great work of the State Department, these "despicable monsters" have been brought to El Salvador, where they can no longer pose a threat to the American people.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio had previously shared a video on the X platform posted by El Salvador's President Nayib Bukele showing the arrival of 238 members of Tren de Aragua in the country. They were taken away under massive security precautions.
Trump later posted the video on his Truth Social platform and wrote: "These are the monsters" that were allowed into the country by his predecessor Joe Biden. He thanked El Salvador and President Bukele.
The New York Times reported that the planes may have already been in El Salvador when the federal judge intervened. The newspaper referred to a social media post by the Salvadoran president, in which he shared an article on the judge's decision and wrote: "Oops...Too late".
The New York Times had also previously quoted a lawyer for the civil rights organization ACLU, which had filed a lawsuit against Trump's order that he believed two planes were already en route on Saturday night. The civil rights organization argued that the criminal gang was not involved in an invasion.
