A new report claims that President Donald Trump is expected to invoke the wartime powers of the “Alien Enemies Act of 1798” to quickly deport criminal illegal immigrants linked to the Venezuelan Tren de Aragua gang.
Multiple U.S. officials familiar with the president’s plan told CBS News that the 47th president is expected to use the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 as early as Friday to authorize the expedited deportation of illegal immigrants who are suspected of being a part of the Tren de Aragua gang to Guantanamo Bay.
According to CBS News, the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 gives the president the power to arrest, detain, and deport non-citizens 14 years and older if they come from nations committing an “invasion or predatory incursion” of the United States.
The Daily Wire reported that illegal immigrants arrested under the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 would not be granted an asylum interview or a court hearing and would be processed under the president’s special wartime authority instead of normal U.S. immigration laws.
Earlier this year, the State Department announced the designation of Tren de Aragua as a Foreign Terrorist Organization.
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“TdA is a transnational organization that originated in Venezuela with cells in Colombia, Peru, and Chile, with further reports of sporadic presence in Ecuador, Bolivia, and Brazil,” the State Department said. “This brutal criminal group has conducted kidnappings, extorted businesses, bribed public officials, authorized its members to attack and kill U.S. law enforcement, and assassinated a Venezuelan opposition figure.”
Trump previously announced during his inaugural address that he would be invoking the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to crack down on illegal immigration in the United States, specifically with regard to criminal gangs.
At the time, Trump said, “By invoking the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, I will direct our government to use the full and immense power of federal and state law enforcement to eliminate the presence of all foreign gangs and criminal networks bringing devastating crime to U.S. soil, including our cities and inner cities.”
“As commander in chief, I have no higher responsibility than to defend our country from threats and invasions, and that is exactly what I am going to do,” the president added. “We will do it at a level that nobody has ever seen before.”