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Trump Administration Cites 1798 Law to Accelerate Deportations

President Trump plans to invoke the Alien Enemies Act to target Venezuelan gang members, as deportation efforts face logistical and legal challenges.

President Donald Trump speaks to reporters during a meeting with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte at the White House in Washington, Thursday, March 13, 2025. To accelerate mass deportations across the country, President Donald Trump is expected to invoke a 277-year-old wartime law as early as today. 
American paratroopers, heavily armed, sit inside a military plane as they soar over the English Channel en route to the Normandy French coast for the Allied D-Day invasion of the German stronghold during World War II, June 6, 1944. The Alien Enemies Act was last used during World War II. 
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Overview

  • The Trump administration intends to use the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, historically invoked during wartime, to deport individuals linked to the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua, labeled a foreign terrorist organization.
  • Plans to house up to 30,000 migrants at Guantánamo Bay have been scaled back after protests, lawsuits, and operational setbacks, with 40 migrants recently returned to the U.S. mainland.
  • Since January, $16 million has been spent transferring 290 migrants to Guantánamo Bay, but the facility has faced criticism for inadequate conditions and its association with past human rights abuses.
  • Legal challenges question the administration's authority to detain migrants at Guantánamo Bay and highlight detainees' lack of access to legal counsel and due process.
  • Immigration officials report logistical hurdles in deporting the approximately 47,600 migrants currently in custody, including budget shortfalls and resistance from some migrants' home countries.