- Title: ACLU attorney blasts Trump's 'dangerous' use of wartime law for deportations
- Date: 16th March 2025
- Summary: WASHINGTON, D.C., UNITED STATES (MARCH 16, 2024)(REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE)(English) LEE GELERNT, LAWYER WITH THE AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION (ACLU), SAYING: "We ask the court to immediately issue a temporary restraining order, stopping all removals. We do not know whether the removals that are being posted took place before the court's order or after, and we've asked the Gov
- Embargoed:
- Keywords: 1798 Alien Enemies Act ACLU El Salvador El Salvadoran president Trump Administration Trump deportation Venezuela Venezuela gang asylum immigration temporary restraining order
- Location: WASHINGTON, D.C., UNITED STATES / VARIOUS IN EL SALVADOR / INTERNET
- City: WASHINGTON, D.C., UNITED STATES / VARIOUS IN EL SALVADOR / INTERNET
- Country: US
- Topics: North America,Government/Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA007923616032025RP1
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: An attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union, which is challenging U.S. President Donald Trump's use of a wartime law for deportation of more than 200 alleged members of a Venezuelan gang, said on Sunday (March 16) that Trump's use of the Alien Enemies Act was 'dangerous ground' and 'lawless'.
"This is as lawless an action as the administration has taken," Lee Gelernt, the lead ACLU attorney, told Reuters. "If the administration is allowed to use wartime authorities any time it wants to remove people, I think we are going to see more and more people being subjected to this type of Alien Enemies Act and a blurring of wartime authority with domestic authority."
More than 200 alleged Venezuelan gang members 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 (March 16).
In a proclamation published on Saturday (March 15), U.S. President Donald Trump invoked the 1798 Alien Enemies Act to rapidly deport alleged members of Tren de Aragua, a criminal organization that has been linked to kidnapping, extortion and contract killings.
A federal judge in Washington, D.C., blocked the application of the law for 14 days, saying the statute refers to "hostile acts" perpetrated by another country that are "commensurate to war."
Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele said in a post on the X social media network that 238 alleged members of the Venezuelan gang had arrived in his country on Sunday and were transferred to the Terrorism Confinement Center - a mega-prison that can hold up to 40,000 inmates - for a one-year period that could be renewed.
The American Civil Liberties Union has asked the administration to ensure that it has not removed any migrants in violation of the order.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the State Department and the Salvadoran government did not respond to requests for comment.
"Oopsie...Too late," Bukele posted on Sunday in response to an article about the order blocking the deportations, adding a laughing emoji.
The Alien Enemies Act - best known for its use to justify internment camps for people of Japanese, German and Italian descent during World War Two - would let the Trump administration bypass U.S. immigration courts and speedily remove the migrants.
The Trump administration has filed an appeal against Saturday's legal decision at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia.
(Production: Colette Luke) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
- Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2025. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
- Usage Terms/Restrictions: None