Until last week, “war” was the common denominator in describing the three events for which presidents invoked the 1798 Alien Enemies Act.

The War of 1812, World War I, and World War II. You get the idea. No one disputed those were wars.

That’s not the case with President Trump’s invocation of the Alien Enemies Act — officially called “An Act Respecting Alien Enemies” when it passed 227 years ago.

1798alienact

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The Trump Administration has to make the case that its war on the Tren de Aragua gang is a real war rather than a campaign like, say, the war on drugs in the 1980s.

The last time the Alien Enemies Act was put into use was after the attack on Pearl Harbor. Roosevelt issued a proclamation on Dec. 7, 1941, aimed at non-citizen immigrants from Japan. Similar proclamations were issued the following day that targeted German and Italian immigrants. FDR then went a huge step further three months later with a superseding executive order to put these groups in internment camps, with people of Japanese ancestry primarily affected.

Here’s a timeline of events, disputes, and records related to the fourth invocation of the Alien Enemies Act eight decades later:

Friday, March 14

Trump signs the proclamation, targeting members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua. The proclamation says the gang is a terrorist organization whose members have “unlawfully infiltrated the United States and are conducting irregular warfare and undertaking hostile actions against the United States.”

Saturday, March 15

A lot happens on this day. First, the American Civil Liberties Union and Democracy Forward quickly sue on behalf of five Venezuelans — one in New York and four in Texas. The proclamation has not been made public, but the two groups say in their petition they believe it will be signed imminently. They argue that the Alien Enemies Act “has only ever been a power invoked in time of war, and plainly only applies to warlike actions: it cannot be used here against nationals of a country —Venezuela— with whom the United States is not at war, which is not invading the United States, and which has not launched a predatory incursion into the United States.”

ACLU Complaint

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Later that morning, U.S. District Court Judge James Boasberg issues a temporary restraining order to prohibit the federal government from deporting the five Venezuelans.

Timeline: The Alien Enemies Act

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