President Donald Trump invoked a 1798 law to expedite deportation of Venezuelan gang members Saturday, though a federal judge blocked the plan for two weeks to hear arguments in the case.
The 227-year-old Alien Enemies Act is the only remaining law of four passed as part of the Alien and Sedition Acts amid tensions with France. The law gives the president power to deport non-US citizens without due process if they are natives of a country with which the US is at formal war or during an “invasion or predatory incursion.” The statute has been invoked three times—during the War of 1812 and both World Wars—and was the basis for the 1940s internment of more than 100,000 Japanese Americans.
In its invocation, the Trump administration described the recent migration of thousands of members of Venezuela’s Tren de Aragua gang—designated a foreign terrorist organization in January—as an invasion. The group is known for human and drug trafficking, and its alleged members are the target of at least 100 criminal investigations across the US.
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