Trump Wrong For Using ‘Wartime Law’ To Deport Immigrants, Booker Says

NEW JERSEY — Over the weekend, President Donald Trump invoked an archaic wartime law to justify the deportation of hundreds of immigrants. There is one big problem, however, according to U.S. Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey: the nation isn’t at war – and immigrants aren’t “invading” it.

On Saturday, the Trump Administration announced that it was planning to launch a new crackdown against members of Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan gang that the United States has declared a “foreign terrorist organization.”

Soon afterwards, federal authorities deported hundreds of people to El Salvador, despite a judge’s order. The administration has not identified who was deported, or provided any evidence they are gang members or that they committed any crimes in the United States, according to the Associated Press.

White House officials said the Trump Administration didn’t violate the judicial order because the deportations had already taken place, CNN reported.

The move fulfills a campaign promise that Trump made during an October rally, Fox News reported.

Trump used an old federal law – the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 – to justify the crackdown. The law was last invoked during World War II, when it was used as legal rationale for the mass internments of people with Japanese, German and Italian ancestry.

Trump said that Tren de Aragua has “unlawfully infiltrated the United States,” and is “conducting irregular warfare and undertaking hostile actions.” The gang’s past crimes have included murders, kidnappings, extortions and illegal trafficking, he alleged.

“Over the years, Venezuelan national and local authorities have ceded ever-greater control over their territories to transnational criminal organizations, including Tren de Aragua,” the president wrote. “The result is a hybrid criminal state that is perpetrating an invasion of and predatory incursion into the United States, and which poses a substantial danger to the United States.”

Some legal experts and Democratic politicians are accusing the president of overstepping his authority, however.

On Monday, Sen. Booker – a Newark resident – said Trump got it wrong.

“Over the weekend, President Trump invoked the 1798 Alien Enemies Act to deport noncitizens without due process,” Booker pressed in a joint statement with Sens. Alex Padilla of California, Dick Durbin of Illinois and Peter Welch of Vermont.

“This attempt to use an archaic wartime law —not used since World War II — for immigration enforcement is yet another unlawful and brazen power grab,” the senators continued.

“Let's be clear: we are not at war, and immigrants are not invading our country,” they added. “Furthermore, courts determine whether people have broken the law — not a president acting alone, and not immigration agents picking and choosing who gets imprisoned or deported. It’s what our Constitution demands, and it’s the law Trump is bound by no matter how much he tries to mislead the American people otherwise. These protections are there to help ensure U.S. citizens aren’t wrongfully deported, or people who haven’t committed a crime aren’t wrongfully punished.”

The lawmakers concluded:

“A district court issued a temporary restraining order to block the [Trump] Administration’s use of this wartime law, and ordered deportation flights already underway to return to the U.S. We cannot allow Trump to flout the rules and due process. All of us, including the courts, must continue to hold this administration accountable, and prevent the Trump Administration from taking us down a dark and dangerous road.”

Trump’s ongoing immigration crackdown has left a heavy footprint in New Jersey, where U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) are planning to reopen a massive federal immigration detention facility. It would be the first to open under President Donald Trump’s second term, and will increase the capacity for deportations throughout the region.

• See Related: ICE Detention Center In NJ Is First To Open Under Trump's New Term
• See Related: Hundreds Protest Against Reopening ICE Detention Facility In NJ

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