Claiming that the US is being invaded by a Venezuelan gang, President Donald Trump has invoked the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, allowing him broader leeway on policy and executive action to speed up mass deportations of people who are in America illegally.
The sweeping wartime law potentially pushes Mr Trump’s promised crackdown on immigration into higher gear.
Mr Trump’s declaration targets the Tren de Aragua gang (TdA), contending it is a hostile force acting at the behest of Venezuela’s government.
The declaration came on the same day that a federal judge in Washington barred the US administration from deporting five Venezuelans under the expected order – a hint at the legal battle brewing over Mr Trump’s move.
The judge was scheduled to consider expanding the prohibition on deportation just minutes after Mr Trump’s announcement.
The US President’s statement reads: “Over the years, Venezuelan national and local authorities have ceded ever-greater control over their territories to transnational criminal organisations, including TdA.
“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.”
The act was last used as part of the internment of Japanese-American civilians during the Second World War and has only been used two other times in American history, during the First World War and the War of 1812.
Mr Trump argued in his declaration that it is justified because he contends the TdA, a common talking point on the campaign trail, has ties to the regime of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.
The US leader talked about using the act during his presidential campaign, and immigration groups were braced for it.
That led to Saturday’s unusual lawsuit, filed before Mr Trump’s declaration even became public.
The suit by the American Civil Liberties Union and Democracy Forward on behalf of five Venezuelans whose cases suddenly moved towards deportation in recent hours.
James E Boasberg, chief judge of the DC Circuit, agreed to implement a temporary restraining order preventing the deportation for 14 days under the act of the five Venezuelans who are already in immigration custody and believed they were about to be deported.
Judge Boasberg said his order was “to preserve the status quo”.
He scheduled a hearing for later in the afternoon to see if his order should be expanded to protect all Venezuelans in the United States.
Hours later, the Trump administration appealed the initial restraining 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 license to enjoin virtually any urgent national-security action just upon receipt of a complaint”, the Justice Department wrote in its appeal.
It said district courts might then issue temporary restraining orders on actions such as drone strikes, sensitive intelligence operations, or terrorist captures or extraditions. The court “should halt that path in its tracks”, the department argued.
The unusual flurry of litigation highlights the controversial Act, which could give Trump vast power to deport people in the country illegally.
It could let him bypass some protections of normal criminal and immigration law to swiftly deport those his administration contends are members of the gang.
The White House has already designated Tren de Aragua a terrorist organisation and is preparing to move about 300 people it identifies as members of the gang to detention in El Salvador.
