On March 15, 2025, President Trump invoked the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 on Tren de Aragua (TdA), a Venezuelan criminal organization that has also been designated as a Foreign Terrorist Organization.
The Alien Enemies Act of 1798 allows the president to detain or deport the natives and citizens of an enemy nation. The law generally permits the president to target these non-U.S. citizens without a hearing and based only on their country of birth or citizenship. The Act has been invoked only three times before, the last time being during World War II when it was used as a basis for the forced relocation and internment in internment camps of approximately 120,000 Japanese Americans. For additional information on the Act, see NAFSA's backgrounder The Alien Enemies Act of 1798.
Proclamation of March 15, 2025, Invocation of the Alien Enemies Act Regarding the Invasion of The United States by Tren De Aragua. Read the entire proclamation:
The proclamation is consistent with immigration-related comments in President Trump's January 20, 2025 inaugural address, where he stated: "Under the orders I sign today, we will also be designating the cartels as foreign terrorist organizations... And by invoking the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, I will direct our government to use the full and immense power of federal and state law enforcement to eliminate the presence of all foreign gangs and criminal networks bringing devastating crime to U.S. soil, including our cities and inner cities."
Brief Summary of the Proclamation
- The proclamation asserts that Tren de Aragua (TdA), a Venezuelan criminal organization that has also been designated as a Foreign Terrorist Organization, has "thousands of members, many of whom have unlawfully infiltrated the United States and are conducting irregular warfare and undertaking hostile actions against the United States... TdA is closely aligned with, and indeed has infiltrated, the Maduro regime, including its military and law enforcement apparatus... The result is a hybrid criminal state that is perpetrating an invasion of and predatory incursion into the United States, and which poses a substantial danger to the United States."
- The proclamation's assertion that Tren de Aragua's activity is linked to Venezuela's Maduro regime is likely due to the fact that the law requires the underlying hostility to be perpetrated by a "foreign nation or government."
- The proclamation then declares that "[a]ll Venezuelan citizens 14 years or older who are TdA members within the U.S. (and not naturalized or lawful permanent residents) are classified as "Alien Enemies" and directs that they "are subject to immediate apprehension, detention, and removal, and further that they shall not be permitted residence in the United States," and that no such "alien enemy" may "enter, attempt to enter, or be found within any territory subject to the jurisdiction of the United States. Any such Alien Enemy who enters, attempts to enter, or is found within such territory shall be immediately apprehended and detained until removed from the United States. All such Alien Enemies, wherever found within any territory subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, are subject to summary apprehension."
Litigation
This proclamation is currently enjoined by a temporary restraining order (TRO) issued on March 15, 2025 by the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia in a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). The government has appealed the district court's TRO to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals. The case is J.G.G. v. TRUMP (1:25-cv-00766). See the Court Listener docket for case information and documents.
Despite the court order, "More than 200 alleged members of a Venezuelan gang have been deported by the U.S. and sent to El Salvador where they were taken to a high-security prison, the Salvadoran president said on Sunday" (Sunday, March 16, 2025), according to Reuters. See Ted Hesson, Alleged Venezuelan gang members deported by US arrive in El Salvador, Reuters, March 16, 2025.