Federal Judge Halts Trump's Move To Use Alien Enemies Act To Deport Venezuelans
A federal judge blocked Trump's use of the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to deport suspected Venezuelan gang members, halting administration deportation flights for 14 days.
A federal judge on Saturday temporarily blocked an effort by US 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.
On Saturday, the Trump administration invoked the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, which gives the president enormous authority to target and remove undocumented immigrants, to speed up the deportations of migrants. The law is made 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. In invoking the act, Trump said members of the gang were "conducting irregular warfare and undertaking hostile actions against the United States" with the goal of destabilizing the nation.
US District Judge James Boasberg halted the administration from deporting five individuals who challenged President Donald Trump’s use of the act and issued a temporary restraining order for 14 days. He also ordered any deportation flights carrying those subject to the presidential proclamation to return to the US.
“Particularly given the plaintiffs’ information, unrebutted by the government, that flights are actively departing and planning to depart, I do not believe that I’m able to wait any longer,” Boasberg said, CNN reported. “Any plane containing these folks that is going to take off or is in the air needs to be returned to the United States.”
However, the Justice Department argued that the president could unilaterally determine who poses a significant risk to the United States given his inherent authority as president over national security.
What is the Alien Enemies Act?
According to Brennan Center, the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 is a wartime authority that allows the president to detain or deport the natives and citizens of an enemy nation. The law permits the president to target these immigrants without a hearing and based only on their country of birth or citizenship.It is an overbroad authority that may violate constitutional rights in wartime and is subject to abuse in peacetime. The Act has been invoked three times, each time during a major conflict: the War of 1812, World War I, and World War II.
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