Judge blocks Trump from using war powers to mass-deport accused Venezuelan gang members
Claiming that the Nicolás Maduro regime has launched an invasion of the United States through a dangerous gang, President Donald Trump on Saturday invoked wartime powers contemplated in a centuries-old act to assume the authority to expedite the mass deportation of Venezuelans citizens.
A federal judge in Washington D.C., however, quickly blocked the government from carrying out the order — temporarily stalling the Trump administration’s plans to fast-track the expulsion of Venezuelans who are accused of being gang members.
Trump announced those plans Saturday in an unprecedented executive order citing the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, which would be used to declare accused members of the Tren de Aragua gang as “alien enemies” and to apprehend and remove them from the United States. The law, known for its role in interning Japanese immigrants during World War II, has been only sparingly used by past presidents, and only during times of war.
Trump, accusing the Maduro regime of using gang members to cause harm inside the United States, announced that all Tren de Aragua members in the United States who are 14 or older and are not citizens or lawful permanent residents will be liable to be “apprehended, restrained, secured, and removed as Alien Enemies.” He ordered that they are “chargeable with actual hostility against the United States and are therefore ineligible” to receive the benefits of a law that would give the accused a set amount of time to put their affairs in order.
READ MORE: Venezuela to resume deportation flights from the U.S.
“I further find and declare that all such members of TdA are a danger to the public peace or safety of the United States,” Trump said.
Trump directed the attorney general to present a letter in 60 days establishing a policy for the future deportation of gang members and for federal agencies to coordinate actions with local and state law enforcement organizations.
Blocked by a judge
Any plan for immediate deportation actions were nevertheless placed on hold by a federal judge that granted a temporary restraining order blocking the Trump administration from removing immigrants from the United States using the Alien Enemies Act. The judge was acting in a case brought by the American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of the District of Columbia and Democracy Forward, representing Venezuelans that attorneys said were at risk of being imminently deported.
The judge initially blocked the Trump administration from deporting the plaintiffs, and then broadened the order to all Venezuelans during a Saturday evening hearing.
“The Government is ENJOINED from removing members of such class (not otherwise subject to removal) pursuant to the Proclamation for 14 days or until further Order of the Court,” James E. Boasberg, chief judge of the D.C. Circuit, said in his order, which was immediately appealed.
POLITICS: Trump travel ban: ‘no exceptions’ for Cubans, Venezuelans. Other islands may join Haiti on list
Maureen Porras, an immigration attorney and vice mayor of Doral — the city with the largest Venezuelan-American population in the United States — said that with the judge’s order blocking the implementation of the act, these individuals will likely be processed through standard immigration proceedings, rather than the expedited process initially proposed.
“While this doesn’t mean deportation is off the table, it does guarantee they will receive the due process that all immigrants facing deportation are entitled to,” she said.
Porras drew a comparison between the Trump administration’s attempts to use the Alien Enemy Act and its implementation of Title 42 during the COVID-19 pandemic to quickly expel migrants at the border, citing reasons of health.
“When Title 42 was enacted, it stripped away the ability for individuals to request asylum through standard procedures, allowing for quicker deportations. It expedited removals without following the usual immigration processes,” Porras explained. “What we’re seeing now is very similar, but Title 42 had a legal justification, which is why it was allowed to be used. The current invocation of the Alien Enemy Act, however, lacks that same clear rationale.”
RELATED CONTENT: ‘The whole pie’: Trump team attempts novel legal strategy to subvert birthright citizenship
Many of the members of the 2,500-strong TdA gang have joined the massive immigration wave fleeing Venezuela and have set up shop in neighboring countries. Authorities in the region say the gang is behind a spike in criminal activities in Colombia, Perú, Ecuador, Chile, Bolivia and Costa Rica.
Some of them are believed to have entered into the United States. But while experts believe they only amount to a few dozen, officials inside the Trump Administration have unofficially put the number in the several hundreds.
Trump, whose administration had already designated Tren de Aragua as a Foreign Terrorist Organization, on Saturday said many of its members have infiltrated the United States to conduct irregular warfare and hostile actions against the country.
It “is perpetrating an invasion of and predatory incursion into the United States, which poses a substantial danger to the United States,” Trump said. “TdA operates in conjunction with Cártel de los Soles, the Nicolas Maduro regime-sponsored, narco-terrorism enterprise based in Venezuela, and commits brutal crimes, including murders, kidnappings, extortions, and human, drug, and weapons trafficking.”
The president also said that the gang is involved in the mass smuggling of migrants into other nations with the intent to cause harm and destabilize the region’s democracies.
John De La Vega, a Miami-based immigration attorney, said Trump’s order raises concerns about due process for anyone accused of being a member of Tren de Aragua, particularly if the accusations are wrong.
“The real concern here is how they will determine who is actually a member of Tren de Aragua. What happens if innocent Venezuelans — who are currently navigating the immigration system — are wrongly identified and deported without due process?” he asked. “The frightening reality is that they could be sent back without any opportunity to defend themselves or seek protection.”
This story was originally published March 15, 2025 at 7:03 PM.
