In April 2025, the US Supreme Court issued a 5-4 split decision allowing President Donald Trump's administration to continue deporting Venezuelan migrants accused of being members of the Tren de Aragua criminal organization, invoking the 1798 Alien Enemies Act.
The decision represented a step forward for Trump's
immigration policy, as he had invoked this historic legislation arguing that
the criminal organization posed a threat to US national security. The law,
created in the 18th century, grants extraordinary powers to the president in
certain circumstances related to foreign threats.
The controversy intensified after the US government
transferred hundreds of Venezuelans to a maximum-security prison in El
Salvador. The Trump administration maintained that the deportees were linked to
criminal organizations, while defense attorneys questioned the evidence used to
identify some of them and denounced the lack of due process.
Subsequently, other federal courts issued rulings against
the use of this law to expedite deportations, demonstrating that the legality
of the immigration strategy remained the subject of intense legal dispute.