Last Saturday, March 15, President Donald Trump invoked the powers of the Alien Enemies Act against Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua to speed up his program of mass deportation. His actions were quickly blocked by a judge but the Trump administration ignored the judge’s orders and deported over 200 Venezuelan migrants, who have not received appropriate due process, to a prison in El Salvador.
The law grants the president sweeping authority to detain and deport individuals from countries deemed “foreign enemies.” As FCNL’s Vanessa Schoning and Devra Baxter have pointed out, the law can only be applied during a time of war. We are not at war with Venezuela.
“Asserting the Aliens Enemies Act, a wartime authority, to rip families apart and deport immigrants would deepen the dangers of unchecked war powers,” they write. “Invoking the Aliens Enemies Act to monitor, detain, or deport immigrants would be a misuse of military force — a war against U.S. communities.”
They cover in greater detail the problems with the Alien Enemies Act in a video:
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In a time of war, this authority is immoral – it was last used to justify the inhumane internment of Japanese, German and Italian nationals in the Second World War.
To enforce a cruel immigration policy outside of war, where individuals are not even afforded the right to challenge the legality of their detention or deportation, this policy spits on the image of God in every person.
FCNL’s Bridget Moix puts it like this:
“Rounding up immigrants and migrants based of nothing but their country of origin for middle-of-the-night deportation flights flies in the face of morality, let alone a humane and orderly immigration policy.”
The Trump administration should follow the rule of law and the call of morality and reverse course.
