Donald Trump triggers 18th-Century law to expedite deportations, but here’s the twist

A federal judge on Saturday barred the administration of President Donald Trump from deportations under an 18th-century law that Trump invoked just hours earlier asserting a Venezuelan gang was invading the United States and that he had new powers to remove its members from the country, as reported by Associated Press.

James E Boasberg, chief judge for the US District Court for the District of Columbia, said he needed to issue his order immediately because the government was already flying migrants it claimed were newly deportable under Trump's proclamation to El Salvador and Honduras to be incarcerated there.

Also Read: Drop the unrealistic deportation goal and go after criminals

El Salvador already agreed this week to take up to 300 migrants that the Trump administration designated as gang members.

“I do not believe I can wait any longer and am required to act,” Boasberg said during a Saturday evening hearing in a lawsuit brought by the ACLU and Democracy Forward. “A brief delay in their removal does not cause the government any harm,” he added, noting they remain in government custody but ordering that any planes in the air be turned around.

The ruling came shortly after Trump alleged that the Venezuelan gang, Tren de Aragua, was infiltrating the United States and referenced the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, a wartime law granting the president expanded powers to expedite mass deportations.

Also Read: Ranjani Srinivasan ‘self-deport’ after US revokes visa - What is self-deportation? How it works

The act has only been used three times before in US history, all during wars. Its most recent application was during World War II, when it was used to incarcerate Germans and Italians as well as for the mass internment of Japanese-American civilians.

In a proclamation released just over an hour before Boasberg's hearing, Trump contended that Tren de Aragua was effectively at war with the United States.

Also Read: US to Resume Venezuela Deportee Flights on Friday

"Over the years, Venezuelan national and local authorities have ceded ever-greater control over their territories to transnational criminal organisations, including TdA," Trump's statement reads. "The result is a hybrid criminal state that is perpetrating an invasion of and predatory incursion into the United States, and which poses a substantial danger to the United States."

Also Read: US Places Visa Curbs on Thai Officials Over Uyghur Deportations

The order could let the administration deport any migrant it identifies as a member of the gang without going through regular immigration proceedings, and also could remove other protections under criminal law for people the government targeted.

The Tren de Aragua gang originated in a prison in the South American country and accompanied an exodus of millions of Venezuelans, the overwhelming majority of whom were seeking better living conditions after their nation's economy came undone last decade. Trump and his allies have turned the gang into the face of the alleged threat posed by immigrants living in the US illegally and formally designated it a "foreign terrorist organisation" last month.

Authorities in several countries have reported arrests of Tren de Aragua members, even as Venezuela's government claims to have eliminated the criminal organisation.

The government said Trump actually signed the order on Friday night. Immigration lawyers noticed the federal government suddenly moving to deport Venezuelans who they would not otherwise have the legal right to expel from the country, and scrambled to file lawsuits to block what they believed was a pending proclamation.

Boasberg issued an initial order at 9:20 am on Saturday blocking the Trump administration from deporting five Venezuelans named as plaintiffs in the ACLU suit who were being detained by the government and believed they were about to be deported. The Trump administration appealed that order, contending that halting a presidential act before it has been announced would cripple the executive branch.

If the order were allowed to stand, "district courts would have licence to enjoin virtually any urgent national-security action just upon receipt of a complaint," the Justice Department wrote in its appeal.

Boasberg then scheduled the afternoon hearing on whether to expand his order to all people who could be targeted under Trump's declaration.

Deputy Assistant Attorney General Drew Ensign contended that the president had broad latitude to identify threats to the country and act under the 1798 law. He noted the US Supreme Court allowed President Harry Truman to continue to hold a German citizen in 1948, three years after World War II ended, under the measure.

"This would cut very deeply into the prerogatives of the president," Ensign said of an injunction.

But Lee Gelernt of the ACLU noted the law has only been invoked three times before and contended that Trump did not have the authority to use it against a criminal gang rather than a recognised state. Boasberg said that precedent on the question seemed tricky but that the ACLU had a reasonable chance of success on those arguments, and so the order was merited, AP reported.

Boasberg halted deportations for those in custody for up to 14 days, and scheduled a Friday hearing in the case.