It was a strip and loosen already common in the seven weeks that President Donald Trump has been in the United States government for the second time. First, its administration tested the seams of the legal system and the powers of the Executive Power by invoking the Law of Foreign Enemies that allow to accelerate the parallegal deportations of Venezuelans. A few hours after, a federal judge – this time James E. Boasberg, of the Columbia district (Washington) – issued this Saturday night the temporary blockade of the application of the ancient norm, which dates back to 1798 and with which the Republican president threatened since last week.
In the spotlight is the criminal organization of Venezuelan origin Tren de Aragua, an enemy to which Trump has resorted again and again as an atoning goat, in the campaign and once returned to the oval office. Linked to drug trafficking and people, the president first appointed it as a terrorist organization; Now he accuses her of “being perpetrating, trying and threatening with an invasion or predatory incursion against the US territory” and orders the expulsion of the country of any person linked to the group, as long as he is over 14 years old. The US administration also denounces that the gang operates together with drug cartels supposedly sponsored by the Venezuelan government, which further tense relations between the two countries.
In addition to temporarily blocking these plans, the judge also ordered the return of all the planes that had left the US with irregular immigrants, as a consequence of that executive decision. This Sunday morning there was no information about any return. In statements a The New York Times, One of the lawyers of the American civil liberties union (ACLU), an organization that put the lawsuit, said on Saturday night that two aircraft “in the air” was recorded at that time. During the hearing, convened to the race by Boasberg, a government lawyer refused to share information about these deportations and argued “national security motives.”
The Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, released on Sunday a statement in which he congratulated himself because the entry into force of the law blocked by the judge had enabled the expulsion of “hundreds of violent criminals.” The text, in which Rubio praises the figure of the president of El Salvador, Nayib Bukele, for accepting deported immigrants, did not clarify whether that supposed the administration has disobeyed the order of the judge or if those expulsions occurred before, during the hours in which the rule was in effect.
Afterwards, a Washington official confirmed to the AP agency that immigrants accepted by Bukele had arrived after the entry into force of the judge’s order. Of the two planes that were in the air then, and whose return ordered the magistrate verbally, one of them was heading to El Salvador. In his X account, the president of the Central American country tweeted a video with the production of a film with the arrival, in which the security forces are seen to move to the suspects. In another post, Bukele wrote: “UPS, too late.”
Beyond the Aragua train, the implications that the decree that Trump can have for thousands of Venezuelans in the US, for whom benefits such as TPS (temporary protection status) have concern. This week, The New York Times The draft revealed a measure that the government would be preparing to impose other restrictions on entering citizens of a group of nationalities, among which are Venezuelans. Organizations in defense of civil rights in the US are also afraid that the decree allows the expulsion of minors from other countries without due guarantees.
The norm, with a language more than two centuries ago, says the following: “Whenever there is a war declared between the US and any foreign nation or government, or any invasion or predatory incursion is perpetrated, attempted or threatened against the US territory by any foreign nation or government, and the president makes public proclamation of the event, all natives, citizens, inhabitants or subjects of the nation or hostile government. Years, which are within the US and are not really naturalized, will be subject to being apprehended, restricted, insured and expelled as foreign enemies. ”
The application of the law, which offers serious legal doubts, faces more litigation in court, so its future is uncertain. The case of this Saturday could reach the Supreme Court, six of whose nine judges are conservative. Three of them were named by Trump himself between 2017 and 2021.
The decree indicates that the “Aragua Train operates together with the Los Soles Cartel, the narcoterrorist company sponsored by the regime of Nicolás Maduro based in Venezuela, and commits brutal crimes, including murders, kidnappings, extortion and trafficking of people, drugs and weapons”. In the eyes of the new administration, the gang is promoting the massive illegal immigration to the United States to advance in “their objectives of damaging US citizens, undermining public security and supporting the mission of Maduro’s regime to destabilize the democratic nations of the Americas.”
Only three times
This law has only applied three times, always in times of war. It requires an official declaration of the Congress. In World War II, he served to send Americans of Japanese origin to prisoners in one of the most infamous episodes in the country’s history in the twentieth century. Before, the norm had been used in the war against the English of 1812 and during the Great War (1914-1918). Trump has now resurrected it to boost his massive deportation plan for illegal immigrants, star proposal of his re -election campaign, and to multiply the expulsions to the Naval Base of Guantanamo and other places available to his administration.
Since the first days in command, Trump has been especially hard against immigrants. He agreed with Maduro, through his special envoy for Venezuela, Richard Grenell, the sending of airplanes to deport Venezuelans, among which the US said that members of the Aragua train were included. Only three flights arrived in February, with about 609 people on board. Given the alleged paralysis of transfers by Venezuela, Washington decided to revoke the license to the Chevron oil company, in a hard blow to Maduro’s fragile finance. The hardening with Chavismo had a setback this week, when they gave signs of having resumed the understanding. Both Grenelll and Jorge Rodríguez, head of the Venezuelan Parliament and the main political operator of Chavismo, announced that deportation flights would resume from Friday.
In the order of the White House, links are indicated between former Chavista official Tareck El Aissami and the criminal gang. The Aissami was governor of the State where the Aragua train had its operations base – before expanding through the region – and then rose in power until it became president PDVSA and Minister of Petroleum. He is sanctioned by the US last year he was imprisoned by Chavismo himself under accusations of corruption in the oil industry.
The White House document states: “Like the Aissami, Nicolás Maduro, who claims to act as president of Venezuela and exercises control over security forces and other authorities in Venezuela, also maintains close links with narcoterrorist sponsored by the regime. Maduro leads the company sponsored by the Cartel de los Soles regime, which coordinates and depends on the Aragua train and other organizations to carry out its objective of using illegal narcotics as a weapon to flood the US in 2020, Maduro and other regime members were accused of drug trafficking and other crimes in relation to this plot against the USA ”.
In recent weeks, the opposition leader María Corina Machado has been warning in her public statements about the relationship that ensures Maduro with the gang and with other criminal organizations, which further tense the rope and increases the pressure on the regime. The US had already offered reward for the capture of Maduro, El Aissami and other senior officials. In early January, in the last hours of Biden in power, the amount for those who contribute to that capture increased to 25 million dollars.
