In his fight against a Venezuelan gang, Donald Trump tried to invoke, this Saturday, March 15, a law dating from 1798, used for the last time during the Second World War against Japanese residents. The American president had prescribed the expulsion of alleged members of the gang of Tren of Aragua drug traffickers, saying that he had the right to declare them “foreign enemies” under this text.
Defenders of human rights have seized justice and judge James Boasberg ordered a suspension of 14 days of any expulsion, until it has more time to examine the legality of the decree. In a statement, the Minister of Justice, Pam Bondi, criticized a decision which, according to her, flouts “the power of President Trump, and endangers the public and the police”.
The White House has until Monday to call the suspension, failing which the next hearing will take place on March 21, said the judge. This law on foreigners and sedition is a text that allows the American president to arrest or expel citizens of an enemy nation.
Created in 1798, it was used during the Anglo-American war of 1812, during the First World War and especially during the Second World War, when 120,000 Japanese and American-Japan was interned in the United States. Donald Trump, who has a very hard speech on immigration, wants to use it to fight against the members of the Gang Tren of Aragua who operate on American soil.
“Illegal war”
The White House estimated on Saturday in a press release that this gang had links with Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. “This has produced a hybrid criminal state which is committing an invasion and a predatory foray into the United States,” said the document. Donald Trump accused the Aragua Tren of carrying out “an illegal war against the territory of the United States, both directly and under the direction, clandestine or not, of the Maduro regime”.
According to the declaration, the American Minister of Justice, Pam Bondi, has 60 days to implement the decision which makes all the members of the Aragua “subject to an arrest, an immediate detention and dismissal”. Will be likely to be expelled all Venezuelan members of the gang over 14 years old who are not permanent residents in the United States or do not have nationality.
“The Trump administration’s intention to use a war -time authority for the application of immigration laws is as unprecedented as it will be, in a statement from Lee Gelernt, an official of the ACLU human rights organization. “It may be the most extreme measurement ever taken by the administration, which is saying,” he added.