President Donald J. Trump has unleashed a sweeping offensive against the Tren de Aragua (TdA) gang, signing a proclamation Saturday invoking the Alien Enemies Act to tackle what the White House calls an “invasion” by the Venezuela-born terrorist group.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt announced the move, framing it as a decisive strike to shield Americans from a “direct threat to national security.”
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“TDA is one of the most violent and ruthless terrorist gangs on planet earth,” Leavitt said in a statement. “They rape, maim, and murder for sport.” She pinned high-profile crimes on the group, including the murders of Laken Riley and Jocelyn Nungaray, spotlighting TdA’s alleged reign of terror on U.S. soil. The proclamation, rooted in a 1798 wartime law, marks a rare flex of presidential power, aimed at fast-tracking the detention and deportation of TdA members without standard immigration processes.
Over the weekend, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) pounced, arresting nearly 300 suspected TdA operatives in a blitz Leavitt hailed as a lifesaver.
The Department of State then coordinated their swift removal to El Salvador, where they’re now out of reach of American targets. “These heinous monsters will no longer pose any threat to the American People,” Leavitt declared, crediting Trump’s directive for the operation’s success.
The White House casts TdA as a merciless scourge, tied to Venezuela’s Maduro regime and bent on chaos through murders, kidnappings, and trafficking.
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Trump’s order—his first use of the Alien Enemies Act since World War II—signals an uncompromising stance: “foreign terrorist enemies” won’t roam free here. “They will be found, restrained, and removed—and their networks will be destroyed,” Leavitt vowed.
The move’s already hit turbulence, though.
Hours after Trump’s Saturday signing, U.S. District Judge James Boasberg slapped a 14-day block on deportations under the act, following an ACLU lawsuit claiming it oversteps in peacetime. The court ordered the flights to return mid-air, but that didn’t happen.
“Ooopsie… too late,” El Salvador President Nayib Bukele posted on X in response to the judicial order.
The White House hasn’t flinched, with Leavitt touting Trump’s “core powers” as Commander-in-Chief to bulldoze such threats—legal pushback be damned.
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For now, the administration’s celebrating a win: 300 alleged gangsters off the streets, a terrorist network on notice, and a promise kept to put “the safety of the American People first.” How the courts—and TdA—respond could shape what’s next in Trump’s war on “alien enemies.”
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