Trump used the Alien Enemies Act to deport migrants. Was it legal?
Post Reports
The Washington Post
4.4 • 5.1K Ratings
🗓️ 17 March 2025
⏱️ 16 minutes
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Summary
Over the weekend, President Donald Trump invoked a seldom-used wartime powers act to deport suspected gang members without due process.
Though a federal judge blocked the administration’s use of the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, more than a hundred migrants accused by U.S. officials of being part of the gang Tren de Aragua were flown to a prison in El Salvador on Saturday.
It was the first time the Alien Enemies Act had been invoked since World War II, when it was used to incarcerate Japanese, Italian and German nationals and laid the foundation for the imprisonment of more than 110,000 Japanese Americans.
Today on “Post Reports,” immigration reporter Marianne LeVine joins host Colby Itkowitz to unpack the strategy behind the administration’s use of this act outside of wartime, the timing and legality of the move, and what El Salvador is getting out of working with Trump.
Today’s show was produced by Rennie Svirnovskiy and Ted Muldoon, who also mixed the show. It was edited by Reena Flores, with help from Lucy Perkins.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | On Friday, President Donald Trump signed a proclamation in secret. |
| 0:11.2 | In it, he invoked an obscure law, the Alien Enemies Act of 1798. |
| 0:17.3 | It's a sprawling wartime power that hasn't been used since World War II. |
| 0:23.0 | Then over the weekend, the administration used this power to deport more than a hundred |
| 0:28.5 | Venezuelan migrants. The White House claimed they belong to the gang Tren de Aragua. |
| 0:35.5 | These migrants received no immigration hearing and no due process. |
| 0:40.3 | They're now stranded in a mega prison in El Salvador. |
| 0:45.8 | From the newsroom of the Washington Post, this is Post reports. |
| 0:51.6 | I'm Kolby Ekowitz. It's Monday, March 17th. |
| 0:55.7 | Today, the Alien Enemies Act. |
| 0:58.6 | I'm sitting down with immigration reporter Marianne Levine |
| 1:02.2 | to talk about how the Trump administration used this wartime power to deport migrants |
| 1:07.9 | and how they apparently defied a judge to do it. |
| 1:15.6 | Marian, I know you were really busy over the weekend. |
| 1:18.6 | Could you just start by giving us a play-by-play of all the events that unfolded? |
| 1:23.6 | So we had been hearing for some time that President Trump planned to invoke the Alien |
| 1:30.1 | Enemies Act to speed up deportations of migrants. And Trump had talked about this law on the campaign |
| 1:36.3 | trail. He had talked about it during his inaugural address. So this was something that many |
| 1:42.5 | immigrant advocates were ready for and were anticipating. |
| 1:51.2 | So we see that Saturday morning, the ACLU and Democracy Forward Foundation file the lawsuit against the Trump administration, |
| 2:00.0 | essentially trying to preemptively stop the |
| 2:01.9 | administration from using this wartime law. And as the day unfolds, we then see that the White |
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