Trump invokes the War Law of 1798 to accelerate the deportation of Venezuelans

It is a unprecedented decisionwith which he already threatened in the campaign. The law of enemy foreigners (Alien enemy Act) was promulgated during the presidency of John Adams as part of the laws of foreigners and sedition, in a context of growing tension between the United States and France.

This extraordinary norm, designed for times of war and insurrection, gives the President an almost unlimited power to deport foreigners, even without charges against him. Until now, the Trump Administration has deported approximately 11,000 people a month without resorting to this law.

The measure was immediately blocked by federal judge James E. Boasberg, who argued that deportations had already begun without an established legal process. The White House has appealed the decision, claiming to stop the decree would undermine the government’s ability to respond to national security threats.

In his decree, Trump directly link to the Aragua train with the government of Nicolás Maduroensuring that the criminal organization operates in conjunction with the Los Soles Cartel, a drug trafficking network led by the Venezuelan regime. According to the document, the criminal band has infiltrated the military and police forces of Chavismo and is used as a tool to destabilize the United States and other democracies in the region.

Trump also accuses Maduro of leading the Los Soles cartel and using drug trafficking as a weapon for «flood the United States of Drugs». In addition, the decree recalls that in 2020 the US government charged Maduro and other senior Venezuelan officials for drug trafficking. In his proclamation, Trump declares: «Maduro has increasingly given control of these criminal organizations. Maduro leads this narco-terrorism company, using drugs as a weapon to flood the United States ».

Part of the detainees linked to the Aragua Train could be sent to prisons in El Salvador and Honduras, countries that already collaborate with deportations under Trump’s second mandate. Initially, the former president mentioned the Naval Base of Guantanamo as a destination, but immigrants transferred there have been redistributed, mostly delivered to Venezuela.

Trump surprised at the beginning of his mandate by sending his emissary Ric Grenelll to Caracas to meet Maduro. The meeting resulted in the release of several jailed Americans and the commitment of Chavismo to accept repatriation flights. Even the regime came to offer its state airline convies to facilitate the process. However, shortly after, Trump imposed new sanctions on Venezuelan oil, closing any possibility of an approach.

Reducing irregular immigration is a priority of the president after Joe Biden’s years, in which some Three million undocumented to the country every year. In February 2025, 28,000 arrests were registered on the border, a significantly lower than 256,000 of the same month of the previous year.

The measure has been strongly criticized by civil rights groups. Lee Gelernt, deputy director of the Immigrants Rights Rights Project and the main lawyer in the demand against the White House, warned: «The intention of the Trump administration to use a war authority for the application of immigration laws is as unpublished as illegal. It can be the most extreme measure until now, and that is already saying a lot ».

In his inaugural speech of January 20, Trump defended his decision with a forceful promise: “By invoking the law of foreign enemies of 1798, I will order our government to use all the immense power of the forces of the federal and state order to eliminate the presence of all foreign criminal gangs and networks that are bringing a devastating crime to the US soil, including our cities and neighborhoods.”

Although the Aragua train has sown terror in Latin America and is seen as an instrument of interference of Chavismo, organized crime experts ensure that its presence in the United States remains limited. It is estimated that the group has Only a few hundred members in the countrya minimum fraction within the almost 800,000 Venezuelans residing in US territory.