After Judge Blocks Wartime Act For Deportations, Trump Administration Ignores Orders Citing “National Security”

President Donald Trump had invoked the wartime Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to deport five Venezuelan nationals from the US. 

The decision to invoke the wartime law received criticism from many, alleging Trump of invoking the 1798 act unlawfully during peacetime to accelerate mass deportations and sidestep immigration law. The act was later temporarily blocked by a federal judge, but the Trump administration ignored the order, citing “national security” reasons. 

Deportation

On Saturday, The White House issued a presidential proclamation targeting Venezuelan members of the gang Tren de Aragua, saying: 

Tren de Aragua (TdA) is a designated Foreign Terrorist Organization with thousands of members, many of whom have unlawfully infiltrated the United States and are conducting irregular warfare and undertaking hostile actions against the United States.

The president had directed his administration to designate Venezuela’s Tren De Aragua gang as a foreign terrorist organization. Trump’s actions align with his broader immigration and border security strategy, which has included the deployment of military forces to enhance border security.

1798 Wartime Act

To deport the five Venezuelan nationals, Trump invoked the 1798 Wartime Act, which has been deemed unconstitutional by his critics. The act has been used only three times in history - the War of 1812, the First World War, and the Second World War. The act was specifically designed to be used in wartime, with Congress having the authority to declare war. 

The president, however, can invoke the law to defend against a “threatened or ongoing invasion or predatory incursion”, according to the Brennan Center for Justice, a non-partisan authority on law and policy.

The Alien Enemies Act can be used to carry out deportation without a court hearing or asylum interview, and the cases of immigrants would be governed by wartime authority rather than by immigration law. 

The act also allows the president to detain, relocate, or deport immigrants based on their country of ancestry which can also include people who have renounced their foreign citizenship and are currently residing as US nationals.

Judge Intervenes  

After a lawsuit filed by civil liberties organizations, a federal judge ordered to temporarily block Trump’s administration from using the act to carry out its intended deportations of the Venezuelans. The chief judge of the Washington, D.C., District Court, James Boasberg, had given a direct verbal order to turn around any aircraft that had already departed the country if it was still in the air.

"You shall inform your clients of this immediately any plane containing these folks that is going to take off or is in the air needs to be returned to the United States," Boasberg said during a hearing on Saturday. “However that's accomplished, turning around the plane, or not embarking anyone on the plane. … This is something that you need to make sure is complied with immediately.”

Boasbarg also barred the Trump administration from deporting "all non-citizens who are subject to the AEA proclamation" for at least 14 days, imposing a temporary restraining order or TRO. The time would allow for the lawsuit to make its way through the courts, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Orders Ignored

The Trump administration went on to ignore the orders and alleged that since the flights were over international waters, Boasberg's order did not apply. The administration further cited  "operational" and "national security" reasons for landing the planes.

Trump’s Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt claimed on Sunday evening that the administration “did not ‘refuse to comply’ with a court order.” She said the order was issued after the alleged gang members “had already been removed from U.S. territory,” arguing that “the written order and the administration’s actions do not conflict.”

“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,” Leavitt said in a statement.

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