Trump administration invokes 18th-century law to deport Venezuelan gang members

Donald Trump. Pic/AFP

The Donald Trump administration on Saturday (local time) invoked an 18th-century law, the Alien Enemies Act of 1978, to speed up the deportations of migrants affiliated with the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua, CNN reported.

This rarely used law, which has been invoked only three times before, grants the president broad authority to target and remove undocumented immigrants. The Alien Enemies Act of 1798 can be invoked if the US is at war with another country or a foreign nation has invaded the US or threatened to do so.

The White House designated the Venezuelan gang as a foreign terrorist organization and said in a presidential proclamation that many of them have "unlawfully infiltrated the United States and are conducting irregular warfare and undertaking hostile actions against the United States." The proclamation calls for all those subject to the measure to be immediately arrested, detained, and removed.

President Donald Trump has taken stringent measures to deport illegal immigrants living in the US. He has imposed tariffs on neighbouring countries of Mexico and Canada to strong-arm them into making a deal to take cautionary steps to stop immigration to the US. These tariffs were later lifted following agreements with both nations.

Earlier, Trump, referring to mass deportations, said, "The fraudsters, liars, cheaters, globalists, and Deep State bureaucrats are being sent packing. The illegal alien criminals are being sent home. We're draining the swamp and restoring government by the people, for the people," he said.

Trump further said that for years, the US had been "controlled" by the radical left but that such control would no longer continue.

"For years, Washington was controlled by a sinister group of radical left Marxists, warmongers and corrupt special interests who drained our wealth attacked our liberties obliterated our borders and sucked our country dry- not any longer," he said.

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