Intelligence Agencies Undermining Trump’s Claims
Alien Enemies Act use undermined: President Donald Trump has, since the start of his second term, been using wartime powers—the Alien Enemies Act of 1798—to quickly and easily deport Venezuelans he claims are associated with the Tren de Aragua gang, which he has designated a foreign terrorist organization. The AEA allows the president to deny court hearings to certain immigrants during times of “declared war” or when a foreign government has taken part in an “invasion” or “predatory incursion.” Trump claims that the Venezuelan government, by directing the activities of Tren de Aragua, is threatening U.S. national security and that Venezuelan nationals flowing into the U.S. constitutes an invasion.
A memo that was declassified yesterday indicates that the intelligence agencies within the Trump administration do not believe that Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro actually directs the activities of Tren de Aragua, undermining Trump’s claim.
“While Venezuela’s permissive environment enables TDA to operate, the Maduro regime probably does not have a policy of cooperating with TDA and is not directing TDA movement to and operations in the United States,” reads the memo, from the National Intelligence Council, which is nested within the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. “The intelligence record indicates Venezuelans have migrated voluntarily, often at great personal risk, to flee political instability and near-collapse of Venezuela’s economy,” adds the memo elsewhere, noting that migrants to the U.S. are not always Tren de Aragua–affiliated.
On May 1, District Judge Fernando Rodriguez Jr. of the Southern District of Texas said much the same in a ruling that bars deportations of Venezuelans under the AEA in South Texas. “The historical record renders clear that the President’s invocation of the AEA through the Proclamation exceeds the scope of the statute and is contrary to the plain, ordinary meaning of the statute’s terms,” wrote Rodriguez.
“The Proclamation makes no reference to and in no manner suggests that a threat exists of an organized, armed group of individu
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