After his administration appeared to defy court orders and deport hundreds of Venezuelan migrants over the weekend, President Donald Trump applauded the move via social media.
“These are the monsters sent into our Country by Crooked Joe Biden and the Radical Left Democrats. How dare they!” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “Thank you to El Salvador and, in particular, President Bukele, for your understanding of this horrible situation.”
Live updates: Showdowns loom over Trump deportations of Venezuelans, college professor
The Trump administration has said the Venezuelans are members of the Tren de Aragua gang, which has been linked to contract killings, kidnapping and organized crime. The president invoked the 1798 Alien Enemies Act as the basis for the deportations.
The law says a president can invoke it during “a declared war” with a foreign nation or government, or when “any invasion or predatory incursion is perpetrated, attempted or threatened” against the United States. The law has only been invoked three times: during the War of 1812, World War I and World War II.
Congress has not declared a war, but Trump on Sunday told reporters aboard Air Force One that he believes, “This is a time of war.”
More: He voted for Trump. Now his wife sits in an ICE detention center.
“Because Biden allowed millions of people, many of them criminals, many of them at the highest level… That’s an invasion,” Trump said. “They invaded our country.”
“In that sense, this is war,” he added. “In many respects, it’s more dangerous than war because, you know, in war, they have uniforms. You know who you’re shooting at. You know you’re going after.”
However, lawyers argued the Venezuelans have not been given due process, and legal questions about the weekend activity will be the focus of court battles throughout the week.
On Saturday morning, Chief U.S. Judge James Boasberg in Washington, D.C., temporarily blocked the deportation of five Venezuelans who challenged President Donald Trump’s invocation of the Alien Enemies Act and deny being members of Tren de Aragua.
It is unclear if any of the Venezuelans targeted for deportation are members of the gang which is accused of operating in Venezuela as well as the U.S.
At a later hearing Saturday, Boasberg expanded the order to cover all targeted Venezuelans. Two deportation flights had already left the U.S. when Boasberg issued an oral order to turn the planes around.
One of the planes landed in Comayagua, Honduras less than an hour later, and the other landed in San Salvador, El Salvador soon after.
Trump administration officials have defended the move. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement the court had “no lawful basis” and that federal courts generally have no jurisdiction over how a president conducts foreign affairs.
“A single judge in a single city cannot direct the movements of an aircraft… full of foreign alien terrorists who were physically expelled from U.S. soil,” Leavitt said.
Contributing: Reuters
