Trump Cites 18th Century Law To Expel Venezuelan Gang Members

Last week, President Donald Trump invoked an old legal statute to rapidly detain and deport Venezuelan migrants suspected of being affiliated with the Tren de Aragua gang.

By activating the 1798 Alien Enemies Act, Trump classified these suspected individuals as wartime adversaries of the U.S. government, giving his administration authority to apprehend, detain, and deport them without due process.

The directive states that any Venezuelan citizen aged 14 or older who is identified as a gang member and residing in the U.S. without naturalization or lawful permanent resident status is "liable to be apprehended, restrained, secured, and removed as Alien Enemies."

On Saturday, Trump utilized this rarely used statute for the first time since World War II—marking only the fourth instance of its enactment since its inception. Earlier this year, he had already laid the groundwork for such action by signing an executive order in January that classified Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan prison-based gang, as a foreign terrorist organization.

That designation labeled the gang as "an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security, foreign policy, and economy," paving the way for the White House to apply the Alien Enemies Act against them.

Under the administration's plan, individuals targeted by this measure would bypass the standard immigration court process and be barred from seeking asylum. However, a federal judge, anticipating the administration’s maneuver, issued a temporary block on the law’s implementation, pausing the removal of Venezuelan men for 14 days.

The Justice Department has since filed an appeal against the ruling, and according to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, hundreds of Tren de Aragua members have already been deported, many to El Salvador.

“We have sent 2 dangerous top MS-13 leaders plus 21 of its most wanted back to face justice in El Salvador. Also, as promised by @POTUS, we sent over 250 alien enemy members of Tren de Aragua which El Salvador has agreed to hold in their very good jails at a fair price that will also save our taxpayer dollars,” Rubio stated in a post on X.

“President @nayibbukele is not only the strongest security leader in our region, he’s also a great friend of the U.S. Thank you!” he added.

In his order, Trump asserted that the gang has strong ties to and has "indeed has infiltrated" Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s regime.

“Tren de Aragua has engaged in and continues to engage in mass illegal migration to the United States to further its objectives of harming United States citizens, undermining public safety, and supporting the Maduro regime’s goal of destabilizing democratic nations in the Americas, including the United States,” Trump stated in his order.

On Tuesday, Trump declared that attacks on Tesla dealerships would be categorized as domestic terrorism, making the announcement on the same day he showcased his purchase of a red Tesla at the White House.

“I will do that. I’ll do it. I’m going to stop them … Those people are going to go through a big problem when we catch them,” Trump said in response to a reporter’s question about the attacks while standing beside Tesla CEO Elon Musk.

“We already know who some of them are,” he continued. “We’re gonna catch ’em. They’re bad guys. They’re the same guys that screw around with our schools and universities — the same garbage.”

Trump also stated that he considers attacks on any American company, not just Tesla, as equally serious.