United States President Donald Trump has invoked the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, a sweeping wartime authority, to expedite the deportation of migrants affiliated with Tren de Aragua (TdA), a Venezuelan gang.
In its proclamation, the White House designated TdA as a "Foreign Terrorist Organization with 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." Furthermore, the proclamation calls for all those to whom the measure applies to be immediately arrested, detained and removed.
The act has been invoked three times in the history of the US, all of those being during wartime. During both world wars, it was used to expel German, Italian, Austro-Hungarian and Japanese immigrants from the country.
