Trump invokes the 19th-century Alien Enemies Act to speed up migrant deportations

WashingtonDonald Trump has revived a law that in nearly 250 years of American history has only been invoked in times of war to expedite his plans to deport undocumented immigrants. This Saturday afternoon, when no one was looking, the White House activated the Alien Enemies Act to facilitate the expulsion of Venezuelan migrants. But the 18th-century law was only in effect for a couple of hours. Shortly after, a federal judge in Washington issued an order blocking it.

Since his campaign rally in Aurora, Colorado, Trump had already floated the possibility of reinstating this law, which was only invoked during the 1812 War against the English, World War I, and World War II. In fact, he was expected to announce it this Friday during his speech at the Department of Justice, where he described himself as "the chief law enforcement officer in our country," although that role falls to the Supreme Court. Finally, he did so on Saturday afternoon, posting it on the White House website and without informing the press, as has been the case with executive orders and other government actions so far.

The invocation of the rule has even caught the courts off guard, which have had to convene a last-minute hearing. Judge James E. Boasberg has ruled to temporarily block the law's implementation and ordered a halt to any deportations that had been activated under the directive. The judge believes that its execution does not fall within the scope of presidential power and points out that it could cause irreparable harm "because these people will be deported, and many or the vast majority will end up in prisons in other countries or will be sent back to Venezuela, where they face persecution or worse." Therefore, the judge asked the Department of Justice to comply "immediately" with the temporary order.

The rule was created when the United States was about to go to war with France in 1789, and there were fears that foreigners or non-citizens living in the country might end up sympathizing with the French. Despite being called the "Alien Enemies Act," it is a set of policies that require a person to have resided in the country for between 5 and 14 years to be considered a U.S. citizen. This criterion gives the government more leeway to detain, imprison, and deport foreigners during times of war. Furthermore, the law also makes it a crime for U.S. citizens to "print, utter, or publish... any false, scandalous, and malicious writings" about the government.

In the text published by the White House, the law is justified invoking the law as a tool to deport Venezuelan migrants linked to the criminal organization Tren de Aragua (TdA, according to the acronym used by the government): "I proclaim that all Venezuelan citizens 14 years of age and older who are members of TdA, within the United States, are not restrained, seized, and expelled as Enemy Aliens."

According to the document, the law is intended to be used to persecute Venezuelan migrants linked to the Tren de Aragua. At least three Venezuelan nationals were detained and sent to Guantanamo Bay under the pretext of being linked to the criminal gang, although their relatives claim otherwise. These individuals do not have a criminal history associating them with the Tren de Aragua, something that the government does assert, although it has not provided public information about those detained on the island. The only common trait shared by the three detained men is that they had tattoos.

Trump has called those associated with the Tren de Aragua gang "the worst of the worst" and has turned the criminal group into one of the main elements of his xenophobic rhetoric to criminalize migrants arriving in the United States. The invocation of the Alien Enemies Act represents a new escalation in the campaign of fear against the migrant community, which has become one of the main soft targets of the US president's ultra-right agenda.

At the end of February, the Trump administrationp left unaccompanied migrant minors alone before the judges who order their deportationsThe government ordered the suspension of legal aid for some 26,000 children, including those who have been "victims of trafficking," according to NGOs.