A deportation officer with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement conducts a brief before an early morning operation, Dec. 17, 2024, in the Bronx borough of New York.
Julia Demaree Nikhinson/AP
hide caption
toggle caption
Julia Demaree Nikhinson/AP
President Trump’s use of the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 – a wartime law – to deport hundreds of people while the U.S. isn’t at war should concern every single American, argues the CEO of a nonprofit currently suing the president and his administration.
About 250 people, some of whom the administration alleges have ties to the Venezuelan and Salvadoran prison gangs Tren de Aragua and MS-13, were flown to El Salvador over the weekend. On Saturday, a federal judge ordered the administration to stop using wartime powers to carry out any deportations and ordered any planes already in the air to be turned around.
Justice Department officials argued the planes were already outside U.S. territory when the judge issued the order, though it remains unclear when the planes left.
“This is a time of war because Biden allowed millions of people, many of them criminals, many of them at the highest level. Other nations empty their jails into the United States,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One on Sunday. “It’s an invasion.”
Skye Perryman of Democracy Forward, a national legal organization that promotes democracy through litigation, told Morning Edition that Trump’s “improper” actions are an attempt to expand his power beyond what the constitution grants the president. She added that the deportations have resulted in people being denied due process under U.S. law.
Democracy Forward, along with the American Civil Liberties Union, filed suit against the Trump administration over its use of the 1798 law. Perryman discussed the lawsuit and what she argues is the administration’s overreach of power.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Leila Fadel: Now, you’re saying he doesn’t need to invoke this act in order to remove what they’re saying are dangerous individuals?
Skye Perryman: The individuals, as we understand that they are seeking right now to remove, are already in custody in some way, but the Trump administration is seeking to circumvent the process that we have in our country in order to just expand power and do something with no process at all. So that’s highly concerning. We’ve not ever been in this situation in the country. But yes, obviously, the United States has comprehensive immigration laws with a lot of enforcement powers, but this one is a misuse.
In this photo provided by El Salvador’s presidential press office, prison guards transfer deportees from the U.S., alleged to be Venezuelan gang members, to the Terrorism Confinement Center in Tecoluca, El Salvador, Sunday, March 16, 2025.
AP/El Salvador presidential press office
hide caption
toggle caption
AP/El Salvador presidential press office
Fadel: The administration carried out these deportations despite a judge’s ruling blocking them. And they said the planes carrying the migrants were already in the air at the time of the ruling, so they didn’t have to comply. What do you make of that explanation?
Perryman: This is not normal and it’s not OK. We filed a paper with the court late last night with the ACLU, raising a number of responses to how the government has been conducting itself in the court hearing. And we are going to work very hard with the court to ensure that the government complies with the order. But we have serious concerns about this compliance because it does look like that they’re just operating in the throes, that the rule of law does not apply to them. And it’s highly concerning and should be concerning for all Americans.
Fadel: We’ve heard Trump advisers and administration officials blaming in general “activist” judges for blocking the president’s lawful authority, as they say. In this case, did the judge overstep, as the White House officials say they did?
Perryman: Absolutely not. You see the judge doing exactly what we want federal judges to do in an emergent situation. He looked at the facts. He held a hearing. He heard the government and he ultimately issued a temporary order. This is what it means to live under the rule of law in the country. It should be concerning to everyone that our president doesn’t believe that the laws apply to him.
And I’ll just note that, you know, the majority of Americans, the vast majority of Americans and the vast majority of Republicans, when they were asked, including last month, agree that presidents should follow court orders. And so we believe this is a real crisis point and we’re looking forward to raising these issues before the court.
Editor’s note: A Marquette Law School national survey from February found that 77% of Republicans polled said the president should follow Supreme Court rulings.
The radio version of this story was edited by Adam Bearne and produced by Destinee Adams.
