Eric Welsh recently spoke to Newsweek about the legal standoff between the Trump administration and Judge James Boasberg over the administration’s recent deportation of Venezuelan immigrants without judicial oversight, quickly brewing into a constitutional crisis.
Eric explains that the Department of Justice is citing a hundreds-years-old, war-time law known as the Alien Enemies Act – which has only been used during the War of 1812, World War I, and World War II – in order to carry out deportations.
“The Alien Enemies Act (AEA) is a 227-year-old law that gives the president the power to arrest and remove noncitizen aliens if there is a declared war between the U.S. and the aliens’ nation, or if that nation or government perpetuates or attempts to undertake an ‘invasion’ or ‘predatory incursion’ against the U.S,” he tells Newsweek.
“The AEA only applies to warlike actions and has only ever been invoked during times of war. Before last week, the AEA was invoked three times, each involving actual declared wars: the War of 1812, World War I, and World War II. Since only Congress can declare war, AEA’s wartime authority requires Congressional declaration,” Eric adds.
“Trump’s proclamation seeks to bypass a formal declaration of war against a foreign government by referring to Venezuelan gangs as a ‘hybrid criminal state’ that is perpetrating ‘an invasion of and predatory incursion’ of America,” he concludes.
