Alleged members of the violent Venezuelan street gang Tren de Aragua are escorted to their cells at the maximum-security Terrorism Confinement Center in El Salvador on March 16. The Trump administration used the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to deport suspected gang members. Photo via El Salvador Presidential Press Office/UPI |
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March 28 (UPI) — The Trump administration asked the Supreme Court Friday to lift lower court orders that stopped deportations of alleged Venezuelan gang members under the 1798 Alien Enemies Act.
“This case presents fundamental questions about who decides how to conduct sensitive national-security-related operations in this country,” acting Solicitor General Sarah Harris wrote in the application. “The President, through Article II [of the Constitution], or the Judiciary, through [temporary restraining orders].
“The Constitution supplies a clear answer: the president,” Harris added, “The republic cannot afford a different choice.”
A federal appeals court panel ruled 2-1 Wednesday in favor of a restraining order from U.S. District Judge James Boasberg issued March 15 that blocked the deportation of alleged gang members under the 1798 Alien Enemies Act for 14 days.
The act allows for the deportation of migrants amidst a declared war or an “invasion” by a foreign nation. President Donald Trump has said he can use it against purported members of the Venezuelan Tren de Aragua gang because he considers the gang’s presence akin to an invasion.
“The president has since determined that thousands of members of this designated foreign terrorist organization have illegally ‘infiltrated’ the country,” wrote Harris in her filing.”After making the requisite [Alien Enemies Act] findings, the President designated [Tren de Aragua] members in the United States as ‘subject to immediate apprehension, detention, and removal.'”
Two planes holding 238 migrants alleged to be Tren de Aragua members were put on planes and flown to the Terrorist Confinement Center, or CECOT, in El Salvador on March 15, which Judge Boasberg had ordered be turned around as part of his ruling, but those deported in that action remain incarcerated at CECOT.
