On March 15, 2025, President Trump issued a proclamation invoking the Alien Enemies Act to detain and deport “all Venezuelan citizens 14 years of age or older” who are members of Tren de Aragua, and who “are within the United States, and are not actually naturalized or lawful permanent residents of the United States….” The U.S. Department of State describes Tren de Aragua as a transnational criminal organization that originated in Venezuela and has cells in Colombia, Peru, and Chile, along with a sporadic presence in Ecuador, Bolivia, and Brazil. The State Department designated Tren de Aragua as a Foreign Terrorist Organization on February 20, 2025.

The Alien Enemies Act, which was enacted in 1798, gave the president the power to apprehend and remove certain noncitizens without the opportunity to contest their removal if there is a declared war between the United States and a foreign nation or government, or if the foreign nation or government perpetrates, attempts, or threatens to undertake an “invasion” or “predatory incursion” against the territory of the United States. It has been invoked only three previous times in U.S. history, each of which involved actual declared wars: the War of 1812, World War I, and World War II. During World War I, the law was used to register or detain noncitizen nationals of Germany, Austria-Hungary, and the Ottoman Empire. During World War II, the Act was invoked to detain and deport Japanese, German, and Italian noncitizens. The U.S. government has since apologized for its use of the Act to detain Japanese Americans at internment camps during World War II.

In a lawsuit challenging the proclamation invoking the Alien Enemies Act, a federal judge blocked the use of this authority, ordering flights that had departed the United States for El Salvador on March 15 carrying over 200 Venezuelan nationals to be turned back. The Justice Department did not comply with the order, arguing that the flights were already outside U.S. airspace, so the judge’s order was not binding. In a subsequent hearing, the judge highlighted the lack of due process for immigrants facing deportation under the Act, asking whether individuals could challenge their removal or prove they were not members of a designated criminal group. Although the legal challenge to the Alien Enemies Act remains ongoing, the federal court decision banning its use as grounds for any deportation anywhere in the country remains in place, so it cannot currently be used as a legal basis for deportation of Venezuelan nationals.