President Donald Trump’s legal maneuver to invoke a 1798 law to deport certain alleged Venezuelan gang members in the United States raised questions about whether he defied a court order that sought to temporarily pause those removals.
Trump announced a proclamation Saturday that said the Tren de Aragua gang is “undertaking hostile actions and conducting irregular warfare against the territory of the United States” and that members age 14 and over unlawfully in the country would be apprehended and deported under the Alien Enemies Act.
The American Civil Liberties Union and Democracy Forward had filed a lawsuit on behalf of five Venezuelans that sought an emergency halt to their deportations without being given “any hearing or meaningful review” and regardless of any defenses they have for removal. The groups said some of the plaintiffs had been targeted by the gang and one was mistakenly labeled as member because of tattoos.
