Alien Enemies Act cannot be used to deport members of Venezuelan gang, appeals court rules
FILE-Detained Venezuelans board the flight to Venezuela at San Óscar Arnulfo Romero y Galdámez International Airport as part of a detainee exchange agreement between Venezuela and United States on July 18, 2025 in La Paz, El Salvador. (Photo by El Sa
A federal appeals court panel ruled that President Donald Trump cannot use the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to deport members of a Venezuelan gang.
The three-judge panel sided with immigrant rights lawyers and lower court judges who argued the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 was not intended to be used against gangs like Tren de Aragua, the Venezuelan gang Trump targeted in his March declaration.
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According to the AP, the opinion said Trump’s allegations about Tren de Aragua do not meet the historical levels of national conflict that Congress intended for the act.
The Trump administration deported individuals named as Tren de Aragua members to a notorious prison in El Salvador. In July, more than 250 of the deported migrants returned to Venezuela.
What is the Alien Enemies Act?
The backstory:
The Alien Enemies Act was created to give the president wide powers to imprison and deport noncitizens in a time of war.
Congress passed the Alien Enemies Act as part of the four Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798 when the U.S. was about to go to war with France.
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Since then, the act has been used just three times: during the War of 1812 and the two world wars.
According to the Associated Press, the act was part of the World War II legal rationale for mass imprisonments in the U.S. of people of German, Italian and especially Japanese ancestry. An estimated 120,000 people with Japanese heritage, including those with U.S. citizenship, were incarcerated.
The Trump administration argued that the Alien Enemies Act gave them power to swiftly remove immigrants they identified as members of the gang, regardless of their immigration status.
The Source: Information for this story was provided by previous LIVENOW from FOX reporting and the Associated Press. This story was reported from Washington, D.C.