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Donald Trump invoked a secular law on Saturday to hold and expel members of a Venezuelan gang, but his decree was quickly blocked by a federal judge.
Trump’s ordinance cited the law on extraterrestrial enemies of 1798 to withdraw members from the Venezuelan gang Tren of Aragua, who, according to him, had “illegally infiltrated the United States and waged an irregular war and undertaking hostile actions against the United States”.
Politics is based on an authority that was invoked last time during the Second World War to intervene to non -American citizens of Italian, German and Japanese origin – one of the most controversial episodes in American history.
James Boasberg, an American federal judge in the Columbia district, blocked the expulsion of people in detention on Saturday who are subject to the decree for 14 days.
The law invoked by Trump “does not provide a basis for the president’s proclamation since the invasion of the terms, the predatory incursion, really relates to hostile acts perpetrated by any nation and proportionately to the war,” said Boasberg, according to the media.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comments.
The decree was the last climbing of Trump’s aggressive repression on immigration. The president has promised mass deportations while implementing a burst of measures, in particular to limit citizenship of the right of birth and to declare a national emergency on the American-Mexican border.
While the order targets the members of Tren of Aragua, he declares that “the Secretary of Internal Security retains the discretion to apprehend and remove any foreign enemy under any distinct authority”. This implies that this can widen the application of a law which, according to criticism, could turber deportations while avoiding the regular procedure.
“To invoke the law on extraterrestrial enemies is a dangerous abuse of power intended to deprive people of their legal rights,” said Allison McManus, Director General of National Security and Foreign Policy at the Center for American Progress.
The government last month appointed Tren of Aragua, a foreign terrorist organization, after Trump on the first day of his second presidency ordered his cabinet to assess a series of groups, including the Venezuelan gang for national security threats.
The decree quoted Interpol Washington, who said that “Tren de Aragua has become a significant threat to the United States while infiltrating Venezuela migration flows”.
Trump’s order said the gang “continues to invade, try to invade and threaten to invade the country” – the rhetoric often used by the president when describing the immigration policy.
Legal researchers argued that referring to illegal immigration as an “invasion” can give Trump, under American law and the Constitution, large powers to expel individuals in mass or keep them in detention without trial.
The Executive Decree intervened a few hours after the American Civil Liberties Union was put a legal action on Saturday in the name of five Venezuelan men in police custody which feared the imminent withdrawal if the law on extraterrestrial enemies was invoked.
This measure would remove non -American citizens “without any possibility of judicial review”, said ACLU in court documents, adding that the status in question was a “measure in wartime which was only used three times in the history of our nation: the war of 1812, the Second World War and the Second World War”.
The Government then appealed to the Court Circuit Columbia district contesting a previous temporary prohibition order rendered by judge Boasberg.
“This court should interrupt this massive and unauthorized taxation for the executive authority to withdraw dangerous foreigners who constitute threats to the American people,” said the United States Ministry of Justice in court documents.
