Latest news with #VenezuelanGang
Yahoo
01-07-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Judges consider whether Trump can use wartime act against Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua
Immigration and administration lawyers on Monday battled over whether President Donald Trump can use an 18th century wartime act against a Venezuelan gang in a case that is likely to ultimately be decided by the U.S. Supreme Court. The attorneys sparred before a three-judge panel of the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans, the latest step in a tangled legal battle over Trump's March invocation of the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 against the Tren de Aragua gang. The law has only previously been used during World Wars I and II and the War of 1812. ACLU attorney Lee Gelernt told the three-judge panel that Trump's use of it is inappropriate. 'This has only been invoked three times in major, major wars, and now it's being invoked in connection with a gang,' Gelernt said. Deputy Assistant Attorney General Drew Ensign, arguing for the administration, said that courts cannot second-guess a president's determination that the U.S. faces a threat from abroad and requires extraordinary measures to protect itself. He noted that the only time the high court weighed in on the act was in a case that dates from after fighting in Europe ended in World War II, when the court said it could not second-guess then-President Harry Truman's assertion that suspected Nazis should still be held under the act because the war was still continuing. 'The president is due the utmost deference' in matters of foreign affairs and security, Ensign said. Trump's invocation has already been twice before the nation's highest court on more technical issues. First, the court found that those accused of being TdA members deserved a 'reasonable' amount of time to challenge that designation in court, but that their deportations could only be challenged in the locations they were held. That eliminated a national bar against deportations under the act issued by a federal judge in Washington, who later found the administration possibly committed contempt when it disregarded his orders and continued to fly some held under the AEA to a prison in El Salvador. Then, after the ACLU and its allies began filing suits all around the country and winning rulings barring deportations under the measure, the high court stepped in a second time. In April it issued an unusual post-midnight ruling stopping the administration from deporting people from a slice of north Texas where there was yet no active ruling against removal. As multiple lower court judges found the AEA couldn't be used against a gang, the high court directed the 5th Circuit to consider the issue and how much time those held should have to challenge their designation. The government, which initially provided minimal notice, now says the standard should be seven days to file an appeal. The ACLU argued for 30 days, the amount of time given to suspected Nazis held during World War II. The panel that heard Monday's arguments was comprised of one judge appointed by Trump, one by former President George W. Bush and one by Biden. Whatever it rules can be appealed to either the entire 5th circuit — one of the most conservative federal appeals courts in the country — or directly to the high court. Trump has argued that TdA is acting at the behest of Venezuela's government. The Act allows its use to combat either an 'invasion' or a 'predatory incursion.' But the ACLU argues that the connection between the gang and the Venezuelan government is tangential at best, and that an assessment by 17 different intelligence agencies found little coordination between TdA and the government in Caracas. Gelernt contended that, by the standards laid out by the administration, the AEA could have been used against the mafia or any other criminal organization with tangential ties to other countries that has operated in the United States over the past 200 years.
Associated Press
30-06-2025
- Politics
- Associated Press
Judges consider whether Trump can use wartime act against Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua
Immigration and administration lawyers on Monday battled over whether President Donald Trump can use an 18th century wartime act against a Venezuelan gang in a case that is likely to ultimately be decided by the U.S. Supreme Court. The attorneys sparred before a three-judge panel of the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans, the latest step in a tangled legal battle over Trump's March invocation of the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 against the Tren de Aragua gang. The law has only previously been used during World Wars I and II and the War of 1812. ACLU attorney Lee Gelernt told the three-judge panel that Trump's use of it is inappropriate. 'This has only been invoked three times in major, major wars, and now it's being invoked in connection with a gang,' Gelernt said. Deputy Assistant Attorney General Drew Ensign, arguing for the administration, said that courts cannot second-guess a president's determination that the U.S. faces a threat from abroad and requires extraordinary measures to protect itself. He noted that the only time the high court weighed in on the act was in a case that dates from after fighting in Europe ended in World War II, when the court said it could not second-guess then-President Harry Truman's assertion that suspected Nazis should still be held under the act because the war was still continuing. 'The president is due the utmost deference' in matters of foreign affairs and security, Ensign said. Trump's invocation has already been twice before the nation's highest court on more technical issues. First, the court found that those accused of being TdA members deserved a 'reasonable' amount of time to challenge that designation in court, but that their deportations could only be challenged in the locations they were held. That eliminated a national bar against deportations under the act issued by a federal judge in Washington, who later found the administration possibly committed contempt when it disregarded his orders and continued to fly some held under the AEA to a prison in El Salvador. Then, after the ACLU and its allies began filing suits all around the country and winning rulings barring deportations under the measure, the high court stepped in a second time. In April it issued an unusual post-midnight ruling stopping the administration from deporting people from a slice of north Texas where there was yet no active ruling against removal. As multiple lower court judges found the AEA couldn't be used against a gang, the high court directed the 5th Circuit to consider the issue and how much time those held should have to challenge their designation. The government, which initially provided minimal notice, now says the standard should be seven days to file an appeal. The ACLU argued for 30 days, the amount of time given to suspected Nazis held during World War II. The panel that heard Monday's arguments was comprised of one judge appointed by Trump, one by former President George W. Bush and one by Biden. Whatever it rules can be appealed to either the entire 5th circuit — one of the most conservative federal appeals courts in the country — or directly to the high court. Trump has argued that TdA is acting at the behest of Venezuela's government. The Act allows its use to combat either an 'invasion' or a 'predatory incursion.' But the ACLU argues that the connection between the gang and the Venezuelan government is tangential at best, and that an assessment by 17 different intelligence agencies found little coordination between TdA and the government in Caracas. Gelernt contended that, by the standards laid out by the administration, the AEA could have been used against the mafia or any other criminal organization with tangential ties to other countries that has operated in the United States over the past 200 years.
New York Times
29-06-2025
- Politics
- New York Times
Appeals Court to Consider Trump's Use of Alien Enemies Act
It is one of President Trump's most contentious assertions of executive authority: a proclamation, issued in March, calling on the powers of an 18th-century law to round up and deport scores of immigrants who he claimed were members of a Venezuelan street gang. That law, the Alien Enemies Act, had been used only three times before in U.S. history, all during periods of war. And the way Mr. Trump invoked it raised significant questions about whether he was complying with the statute's text. For more than three months, courts across the country have been struggling to answer those questions and decide whether the president had stretched the limits of the law in pursuing one of his central policy goals: the mass deportation of immigrants. On Monday, a federal appeals court in New Orleans will consider those questions, as well, in what is likely to be the decisive legal battle over Mr. Trump's use of the Alien Enemies Act. The hearing, before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, will almost certainly reprise legal arguments that the Trump administration and lawyers for the Venezuelan men have made repeatedly in lower courts. But the Fifth Circuit's case is likely to be the first to reach the Supreme Court, where it will get a full hearing on the substantive question of whether Mr. Trump has used the act unlawfully. Passed in 1798 as the nascent United States was threatened by war with France, the Alien Enemies Act gives the president expansive powers to detain and expel members of a hostile foreign nation. But the act grants those powers only in times of declared war or during what it describes as an invasion or a 'predatory incursion.' Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Yahoo
26-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
ICE is jailing a record number of immigrants. Here's how
As Donald Trump's administration continues its mass deportation push, more than 56,000 people are being held in immigration detention, the highest level in years and what may be an all-time record. There were 56, 397 people in immigrant detention as over June 15, according to a Syracuse University database. Internal government data obtained by CBS News suggests an even higher figure, with roughly 59,000 immigrants behind bars — or 140 percent of the agency's ostensible capacity to hold them. The figures top both the 39,000 people held in the final days of Joe Biden's administration, and the previous recent record of 55,654 in August 2019, set during the first Trump administration. Among those in detention now, 47 percent have no criminal record whatsoever, and fewer than 30 percent have been convicted of crimes, according to analysis from The Independent. The Trump administration has achieved these staggering figures by both shifting tactics and major resources to immigration enforcement. One key plank has been aggressive legal maneuvering, declaring the United States under 'invasion' from foreign gang members, now labelled 'terrorists' as a means to invoke emergency powers like the Alien Enemies Act to summarily deport accused members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua. The administration also revoked temporary legal status granted to more than 800,000 immigrants who fled violence, disasters and instability in countries like Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela. The White House has also rolled back protections barring immigration arrests at sensitive locations like churches and bumped up the pace of immigration raids in the interior of the country, with more than 70 percent of detainees being arrested outside of border areas, per the CBS data. Those arrests have ranged from mass operations in Home Depot parking lots to nationwide arrests at courthouses and immigration check-ins with federal officials. To carry out its immigration powers, the administration has tapped resources from other agencies, including deploying federal troops to Los Angeles over the objections of California officials in response to widespread protests against immigration raids, directing federal law enforcement like the FBI and DEA to focus on immigration, and expanding partnerships with local police departments and jails to pursue and detain undocumented immigrants. Even this frenetic pace of enforcement, with officials notching roughly 1,200 arrests per day in June, looks set to expand. White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem have reportedly urged immigration officials to hit 3,000 arrests per day. Immigration and border enforcement already make up two-thirds of federal law enforcement spending, and the Trump administration's so-called 'Big, Beautiful Bill' spending package could direct another $168 billion towards immigration and border law enforcement over the next five years, an unprecedented increase. After briefly flirting with an enforcement pause on undocumented immigrants working in agriculture and hospitality, the administration has said it will continue worksite raids. Trump's allies, such as Republican leadership in Florida, have also joined the effort. The Sunshine State is reclaiming public land in the Everglades to build 'Alligator Alcatraz' to detain thousands of immigrants. The project is expected to cost roughly $450 million a year to operate. The push to expand immigration operations has alarmed critics and observers, who say the nation's immigration detention system's long record of poor conditions and medical neglect is only getting worse under this pressure. 'The number of people in ICE detention is a grim indicator of Trump's cruel mass detention and deportation agenda at work, targeting people based on where they work and what they look like, destabilizing communities, separating families, and putting people's lives at risk,' Setareh Ghandehari, advocacy director at Detention Watch Network, said in a statement to The Independent. 'At least 10 people have died in ICE custody since Trump was inaugurated,' she added. The arrest spree has also strained ICE's existing budget. The agency is reportedly $1 billion over its annual budget and set to run out of allocated funds as soon as next month.
News.com.au
17-06-2025
- Politics
- News.com.au
The world leader's club that Anthony Albanese just can't score an invite to
As world leaders raced to secure a face-to-face meeting with US President Donald Trump earlier this year, the 'world's coolest dictator' was at the front of the queue. El Salvador's president Nayib Bukele, who bizarrely described himself in those terms on his own Twitter account, has become central to the Trump administration's deportation blitz, accepting hundreds of alleged Venezuelan gang members into his prison system. But as Anthony Albanese missed out on a meeting this week despite travelling all the way to Canada hoping to score his first face-to-face chat, there's a growing list of world leaders in a club he still can't seem to join. That club is political leaders who President Trump has made time to talk with in person, even if it was only a fleeting chat on the sidelines of international talks. Barring an unexpected surprise, the next time Mr Albanese is likely to be able to meet President Trump is in September. Hopes dashed Just days ago, the Prime Minister had high hopes of securing a meeting on the sidelines of this week's G7 summit in Canada. 'I do expect to meet the president on the sidelines of the G7 meeting in three days' time,' Mr Albanese said. 'I'm going to raise the tariffs, we'll raise the importance of AUKUS and have a discussion as two friends should. But by Tuesday afternoon, the President was making an early exit, leaving the G7 summit in Canada and skipping meetings with a number of world leaders including Anthony Albanese as he returned to Washington amid escalating war in the Middle East. 'I have to be back as soon as I can,' President Trump said. 'I wish I could stay until tomorrow, but they understand, this is big stuff.' That 'big stuff' is of course the unfolding crisis in the Middle East. News website Axios reported on Tuesday that the Trump administration recently told several Middle Eastern allies it doesn't plan to get actively involved in the war between Israel and Iran unless Iran targets Americans. The US has already helped Israel intercept missiles, but reportedly insisted that the US had made it clear Israel is acting alone in attacking Iran. Trump had earlier posted a statement on his Truth Social platform declaring that 'everyone should immediately evacuate Tehran!' — referring to Iran's capital, which has a population of almost 10 million. 'AMERICA FIRST means many GREAT things, including the fact that, IRAN CAN NOT HAVE A NUCLEAR WEAPON. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!!!' he wrote in a separate post. Australia is not being singled out. President Trump was also set to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Mexican President Claudia Sheinb and the other Outreach partners such as Korea and India. However, some of those leaders have already held face to face talks with the President. Who's who of world leaders who have met Trump Meanwhile, the long list of world leaders who have met with President Trump this year includes Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who he met on February 5. Two days later he met Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba - who he found time to meet for a second time at the G7 on the sidelines. Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba and President Trump agreed to push ahead with trade talks but failed to achieve a breakthrough that would lower or eliminate tariffs. They met for 30 minutes on the sidelines of the G7 leaders summit as the Prime Minister found out - via social media - that the Trump administration had kicked Australia off the dance card. Who else has President Trump met while Australia waited? In February he also held talks with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Then later that month he met with Prime Minister Keir Starmer. A day later came the fateful and explosive meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the White House. He also met with French President Emmanuel Macron in February and Irish Prime Minister Michael Martin in March. NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte also scored a face-to-face before the US President had a second meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. In April, he held talks with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni before a second meeting with El Salvador's President Nayib Bukele. The Prime Minister of Norway Jonas Gahr Støre caught up with him in April. That same month, as world leaders travelled to Pope Francis' funeral, the Prime Minister was fighting an election at home. President Trump held another meeting with President Zelensky on the sidelines of the funeral, producing another historic photograph of the pair in Vatican City. President Trump held talks with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney last month ahead of the G7. He also met with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa in May and the German Chancellor Friedrich Merz in June. Speaking in Canberra, Treasurer Jim Chalmers suggested the 'snub' to Australia was 'understandable' and 'not especially surprising.' 'Given the deteriorating and concerning situation in the Middle East, it's not surprising that President Trump has left the G7 early,'' he said. 'It's understandable given the situation in the Middle East. Obviously, this was always a chance of happening given what we're seeing in the Middle East. This is a perilous moment for the Middle East and a perilous moment for the global economy as well.' Asked if it was 'rude' to find out on social media that the meeting was cancelled, the Treasurer simply replied that he was 'obviously not going to comment on that.' 'Prime Minister Albanese has already had I think three conversations with President Trump,'' he said. 'There will be other opportunities to engage, but in this instance, where we see the very concerning security situation in the Middle East, it's understandable and not especially surprising that President Trump's headed back to the White House.'
