Washington: Donald Trump on Sunday sent hundreds of alleged Venezuelan gang members from America to a prison in El Salvador. A federal judge in the US had temporarily banned deportations under 18th century wartime powers, but Trump refused to directly obey these orders. This is the latest confrontation between the judiciary and the White House in America. When the court ordered a temporary stay on the deportation of 200 alleged gang members, the planes had already taken off. According to the Axios report, when the Trump administration was accused of disobeying the court order, officials said that the plane was already in international waters. Trump critic national security lawyer Mark S. Zaid wrote on X that Trump may eventually face impeachment.
Hours after Trump announced the use of an 18th-century law to speed up deportations, US District Judge James E. Boasberg issued an order on Saturday to stop it, but lawyers told him that two planes carrying migrants had already flown to El Salvador and Honduras. Boasberg gave a verbal order to the planes to return, but apparently this was not done and the judge's written order did not include this instruction.
What did the White House say?
Caroline Levitt, press secretary of the White House, the official residence and office of the US President, responded to speculation in a statement on Sunday whether the administration was violating court orders. He said, 'The administration did not refuse to comply with the court order. This order has no legal basis and was issued after the foreign terrorists of 'TDA' had already been removed from the US territory. TDA refers to the 'Tren de Aragua' gang which Trump targeted in the declaration issued on Saturday.
Used 18th century law
The Trump administration, while announcing the use of the 18th century law, said on Saturday that a Venezuelan gang was invading the US and the administration has new powers to expel its members from the country. Announcing the implementation of the 'Alien Enemies Act' of 1798, Trump claimed that the Venezuelan gang 'Tren de Aragua' was invading the US. This Act gives the President wide latitude in relation to policy and executive action to accelerate deportation on a large scale.
This Act has been used only three times in American history so far and that too only during war. Earlier it was used during the Second World War. At the time it was used to imprison German and Italian people, as well as for the mass internment of Japanese-American citizens.
