Tren de Aragua ‘is perpetrating, attempting, and threatening an invasion or predatory incursion against the territory of the United States,’ Trump said.
President Donald Trump on March 15 invoked the Alien Enemies Act of 1798—a law allowing for quick deportation of foreigners during times of war or invasion—and ordered the immediate arrest and removal from the United States of all Venezuelan nationals deemed to be members of the Tren de Aragua gang, who are now considered “alien enemies.”
Trump issued a proclamation invoking the Act with regard to the Tren de Aragua criminal organization, which was earlier designated by the State Department as a foreign terrorist organization.
In the proclamation, Trump asserts that many of the group’s members have unlawfully infiltrated the United States and are “conducting irregular warfare and undertaking hostile actions” against the country.
Tren de Aragua “is perpetrating, attempting, and threatening an invasion or predatory incursion against the territory of the United States,” Trump said.
“I direct that all Alien Enemies described in section 1 of this proclamation are subject to immediate apprehension, detention, and removal, and further that they shall not be permitted residence in the United States,” states Trump’s proclamation, which also directs Attorney General Pam Bondi to communicate to members of the judicial branch that this is now the official policy of the United States.
Hours after Trump issued the proclamation, a federal judge temporarily blocked it. Chief Judge James Boasberg of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia provisionally certified a class of all noncitizens in U.S. custody affected by Trump’s proclamation and granted a temporary restraining order preventing their removal for at least 14 days.
“The Government is ENJOINED from removing members of such class (not otherwise subject to removal) pursuant to the Proclamation for 14 days or until further Order of the Court,” Boasberg wrote. The judge set a deadline of March 17 for the government to file a motion to vacate the temporary restraining order, with a hearing scheduled for March 21.
The ruling marks an early legal hurdle for Trump’s invocation of the Alien Enemies Act, a rarely used law dating back to the John Adams administration, and sets the stage for further court battles over the administration’s deportation efforts.
By Tom Ozimek
